Are You Rich?

Every day you hear and read of more Christians who are persecuted. Anytime you want to feel sorry for yourself and get anxious about the cares and worries of this life, just pop over to the Voice of the Martyrs site and read about what's going on around the world. Many dear saints live in huts and have to work hard in fields from morning until night for a meal of rice and beans. Some struggle with disease, tumults, and calamities. If anytime you stress over some lack or wish for something that you can't afford of this world's many goods, or struggle with a broken appliance or a physical affirmity or some petty grievance, try looking around the World Vision site for awhile. Some of us are, indeed, going through extremely difficult circumstances or life threatening illnesses ourselves. For all Christians here and abroad, under whatever condition of life, and without regard to their financial situation, I would say that if they are true saints, they are rich. This is a quote that I wish I could give to every suffering saint in the world to remind them of their true state of wealth:

When can it be said of a man, that he is rich towards God? Never till he is rich in grace, and rich in faith, and rich in good works! Never till he has applied to Jesus Christ, and bought of him gold tried in the fire. (Rev. 3:18) Never till he has a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens! Never till he has a name inscribed in the book of life, and is an heir of God and a joint heir with Christ! Such a man is truly rich. His teasure is incorruptible. His bank never breaks. His inheritance fadeth not away. Man cannot deprive him of it. Death cannot snatch it out of his hands. All things are his already,--life, death, things present, and things to come. (I Cor. 3:23) And best of all, what he has now is nothing to what he will have hereafter. ~ J.C. Ryle

Any sinner who repents and believes the gospel, trusting the Lord Jesus as Savior, can have these riches. So, are you rich?

Right Paths

Let your eyes look straight ahead, and your eyelids look right before you. Ponder the path of your feet, and let all your ways be established. Do not turn to the right or the left; remove your foot from evil. Proverbs 4:25-27

This picture brought these verses to my mind. These are verses that I've often written on the greeting cards of young people, especially when they graduate from high school. Have you ever noticed how many times the words "path" or "pathway" appear in the book of Proverbs? Today I counted at least eighteen, all in the first eight chapters. And that's not counting the verses that speak about "walking in the way." Another verse many of us love is the one that says "the path of the just is like the shining sun."

But then there are the warnings. One of the devotionals in my Bright Gems book is devoted to these warnings. I called it "Turn From Evil" and in it I try to explain to children what the Bible means in Proverbs 4:14-19 when Solomon speaks to the young about not entering the "path of the wicked." In the day in which we're living, I'm sure that you'll agree with me that we should be lovingly exhorting our children about these things, especially our teens. And there are so many applications--movies, friendships, TV, books, music, etc.

But we always have to make sure we bring them to the only way that there is to walk in the way of righteousness and avoid the path of evil. It's only through and by Jesus. If we lead our children to Him, He'll lead them in the right paths by and by. Thank God for that.

Sunday Snippet - The Christian Family

"God honors not those who cling to their 'rights', but those who choose freely to obey Him."

This bit of truth is a quote out of a book that has been beloved in our house since early in our marriage. We have a different cover than the one shown here, but of all the books I've read on the family, this one by Larry Christenson has impacted me the most. Others of you may have a different favorite, but this one has always been mine. Believe me, it's worth having on your shelf as a reference. I love the five chapters from Part One, "God's Order for the Family" :


CHAPTER ONE: God's Order for Mates
CHAPTER TWO: God's Order for Wives
CHAPTER THREE: God's Order for Children
CHAPTER FOUR: God's Order for Parents
CHAPTER FIVE: God's Order for Husbands

I have received more help from Chapter Four than any other book I've ever read on the subject, except for a short book by J.C. Ryle, which I may talk about another time. The above quote, however, is from Chapter Two. Think about how it might be applied there, ladies.

I had a nice Lord's Day. Hope you did too.

New Year Greetings

Lord, You have been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever You had formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting You are God.

A blessed and happy New Year to all of you who visit. We've begun another calendar year and there will be many changes in the coming 366 days, as there have been in the 365 that we just completed. But it's good to comfort ourselves in the knowledge of our God who has been changeless from one generation to another. I hope that 2008 will draw you and me closer to Him. I'll slowly be making my rounds to my friends to give holiday greetings.

I haven't done well catching up on my writing during the break, so blogging will be sparse. Keep me in prayer as I get back to donning the various headgear that we moms need to wear, and PLEASE pray that the projects can get moving. Too much activity over the holidays!! Now maybe some time to breathe!

Our Jesus, Our Emmanuel

And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins. Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet , saying, Behold a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us. Matthew 1: 21-23

The baby born that night was called "Jesus." That was His mission; that's why He came. To save a people unto Himself. To bear their sins and give them a place in heaven. To cleanse them by His own blood. This name of Jesus is a precious name to all of us who know Him as our own. It is our only hope in a weary, sin-cursed world.

The baby born that night was to be called "Emmanuel." That was His Person; He's God with us. He is God in the flesh, a union of two natures, divine and human. He is perfect God and perfect man. He had a nature like our own, yet without sin. He can identify with our pain and sorrows. But then again, He is Almighty God. He has all power in heaven and earth and no one can pluck us out of His hand.

In the words of my dear "friend", J.C. Ryle: "This is glad tidings. This is indeed good news. Let us feed on these truths in our hearts by faith with thanksgiving." Amen.

From my house to yours this Christmas season:

Rejoice with me in the first coming of the Lord Jesus, our Savior, Our Emmanuel. May you and yours be blessed by Him this season.

With love and best wishes,

Maxine

I Need a Break!

Hi Friends! I've decided to take a short break. I need to for more reasons than one. The number one reason is that the wireless connection on my laptop is acting up and trying to drive me insane. I will not go into all the gory details partly because I am sick of thinking about it. For another thing, the desktop in the kitchen is having issues of its own too. Then, I have so many writing projects at different stages which I am not getting to because I am too busy on the internet, or TRYING to get on! So......I think the Lord is telling me to take a break. For the next week or more I plan to work on the editing and writing that should be taking my attention at this point. AND finish with some Christmas shopping and wrapping.

So if you don't hear from me you know where I am!

Sunday Snippet - Mary, the Servant

Then Mary said "Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word," And the angel departed from her. Luke 1:38

Once again, I have been encouraged in my Christian walk by the simple faith of Mary, who completely surrendered to the will of the Lord. This was our sermon tonight. We looked at her personal situation, her noble heavenly visitor and his message, and her response to that message. It's her response that touched me once again, as it has so many times before. She acknowledged God as the master, and that she was His servant. As Pastor D. said, she made a complete surrender, knowing that she was about to go through something difficult. But as he said, she chose to be esteemed by God, rather than by men. Should we do any less?

This young Jewish girl is an example to us all. We don't worship her, but we certainly should follow in the footsteps of her simple faith.

Seasons

A quick note to encourage you to visit my friend Connie and read her most recent post. Food for the soul, especially now. Blessings.

A Time to Pray?

Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went home. And in his upper room, with his windows open toward Jerusalem, he knelt down on his knees three times that day, and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as was his custom since early days. Daniel 6:10

As you know, I sometimes post about and request pray for countries where the gospel is restricted and for the persecuted brethren. I've often felt that it won't be too long before I need to talk more about the persecuted church in America, but then I often contend that unfortunately, the church here is too weak to be persecuted. Heaven forbid that any of the "Christians" in this country should have to suffer for our faith here on our own soil.

I wonder, though, if there are not hopeful signs. Some may view it the other way around. I just read a news article about a small group of women here in our home town who responded in a strange way to an incident in September. Someone fired shots at an elementary school and a fourth grade classroom window was shattered. I don't think they've ever found out who did it.

In response to that, a few moms who take their kids to one of the other elementary schools have started gathering together somewhere on school grounds to pray for the safety and well being of the children inside. How dare they do that. Other parents complained and the other day, the principal (without speaking to these moms first), called the police who shooed them away. .The moms say they have never been loud or disorderly.

Now I'm sure there are facts that I don't know and perhaps it would be better if they found a more obscure place such as a car, but from some of the things I've been hearing about the goings on at schools, instead of calling the police maybe it would have been a better idea for the principal to come outside and join them! BTW, if I ever get kicked out of a place, I wouldn't mind if it would be for praying.

I started this post a while ago and have since found out that the moms have said they will be coming back. My husband and younger daughter have just finished having a heated discussion about this. What do you think--if they come back and pray on the school property in an orderly and quiet manner, are they being like Daniel and obeying God rather than men, or are they causing a disturbance such as people often do in protests, showing a lack of respect for authority and the rights of others? Remember, we are living in a day of "rights."

I do know that I pray, with the help of the Lord, that we will have more opportunities to take up our cross and follow the Savior who willingly and lovingly took up the cross to bear our sins. May He help us not to continue to sit in our comfortable places and live a life unto ourselves. Mr. Ryle and I are now traveling through the book of Luke together and I'll close with his words concerning chapter 9, verses 23-27:

"We ought to be on our guard, like soldiers in an enemy's country. We ought to fight a daily battle, and war a daily warfare. The command of our Master is clear and plain: "If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me."

~J.C. Ryle

Sunday Snippet - Morbus Sabbaticus

Morbus Sabbaticus, or Sunday sickness, is a disease peculiar to church members.

• The symptoms vary, but it never interferes with the appetite.


• It never lasts more than twenty-four hours.


• No physician is ever called.


• It always proves fatal in the end--to the soul!


• It is becoming fearfully prevalent, and is destroying thousands every year.

The attack comes on suddenly every Sunday. No symptoms are felt on Saturday night; the patient sleeps well and wakes feeling well and eats a hearty breakfast. But about church time the attack comes on and continues until services are over for the morning. Then the patient feels easy and eats a hearty dinner. In the afternoon he feels much better, and is able to take a walk and read the Sunday papers; and afterwards eats a hearty supper. But about church time he has another attack and stays at home. He wakes up Monday morning refreshed and able to go to work.

~Source Unknown