Orchestrated Or Allowed?

Brothers & Sisters in Christ, I must share an insight that a sister in Christ shared in a post on another great blog, in which she was simply making a passing statement, but God used it to throw light on a subject that I've begun to be more clear on recently, but this just opened the flood-lights on it for me! She was mentioning about how our Lord either orchestrates or allows everything to His glory! The thought then came to me, & most of you are probably going "DUH! We've known this for years!" Yes, I have too, but this just made it so clear I wanted to shout! OK, continuing!! The thought came that those things that are according to the holy character of our Lord, He orchestrates, examples being creation, & salvation through Christ. Both of these momentous events are according to & commensurate with His holy character & all of His perfectly harmonized attributes, so He orchestrated them! An example of something that He allowed is sin to come into the world & mar His wonderful creation, because it is definitely AGAINST His holy character & attributes, so He would never orchestrate such a thing, though He knew it would occur. He only allowed it, since ultimately He can use even this awful thing to His glory & our good, the ultimate example of this being the CROSS!!! Amen & Amen, thank You Lord Jesus! What are some of your thoughts? May the Lord bless you all!

All CHRISTian CHRISTmas Music

OK, here's my first shameless plug as a blogger! But it is only shameless because I don't believe there's any need to be ashamed of what it is about!

If you love Christmas music that exalts the Savior, then I believe you will love the Christimas music that the Bible Broadcasting Network (BBN) is playing beginning today & going all the way through the month of December. BBN is found online at bbnradio.org. BBN is heard in 8 languages, including of course, English. You may also want to listen to some of the other languages' music as well, especially the German! You can choose your language to listen to as you access the BBN Radio web page.
You may live in an area in which you can receive a radio signal for a BBN station. If not you can listen online. I must say it is the most beautiful music this side of Heaven! I truly pray that you have the best CHRISTmas ever!

God is so Good.

As I was thinking a moment ago, it just hit me that if we as believers sense that we have drifted from the Lord through neglect, or even outright sin in our lives, we don't have to seek to do some type of penance, or hope that we can be eloquent enough in a prayer to turn God's head back toward us. In fact, we don't have to necessarily do anything. I remember reading a great sermon by a great Bible preacher of the past, Dr. John R. Rice, entitled simply The Backslider. In that message, he had about 5 points, including such great topics as Is the Backslider saved or lost, What is a Backslider, & the like. Yet the very best part is the last which is simply How to Get Back into Full Fellowship with God or something on that order. It was the shortest & simplest portion of that powerful sermon, & it conveyed all that the believer needs to do to return to fellowship with God. Dr. Rice said that the believer only needs to return in his heart to the Lord & cry out in the genuine sorrow of his heart that he wants back in fellowship & like the Prodigal Son who just took that first step back toward Home, the Father does the rest!
During this Thanksgiving Season, I believe one of the greatest blessings that we, believer or unbeliever, has for which to thank God is that, as a newfound blogger said, God is for us! We don't have to somehow make God aware of our desire to turn toward Him, we need to just do it! If we're wanting to come to Him, or return to fellowship with Him as believers, we can know without a doubt that it is only because our gracious, loving God has first been seeking us!
The lost person can believe in Christ as Savior & we believers can turn back to our Savior in just an instant of time! So, I was just thinking, God is so good! What do you think? May the Lord bless you all!

Isaiah 57:1

"The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart: and merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come."

Have you known a Godly & Christlike person that was taken in death at a rather young age, & wondered about it? My very best friend was one of the Godliest men I've ever known, who loved & served the Lord all his Christian life. He died doing that very thing at a youth event at his church, of a heart attack at 42. My wife's very good friend, & a Godly pastor who I came to love & respect greatly, died on Christmas Day, 2003 at 40. I am sure all of you could multiply the examples exponentially. I must admit, the thought as to "why" did cross my mind, yet I must also honestly say, though I am far from a mature spiritual giant, I have been walking with the blessed Lord long enough to know His reasons are always best though I rarely see the "whys" & "wherefores" at the time.
As I read this verse recently, I wondered if maybe this explains at least part of the "why." I know it is specifically directled to Israel & therefore is not a direct answer to why Godly believers die young today. Yet it is interesting to me, & at least a possibility. But this also raises another question: Why NOT me? I am thankful I still have time to serve my loving Savior & also time to repent of the myriad sins & blunders I make every millisecond as well! Yet I must say that I wonder more at why I am left to keep serving my Savior while much more Christlike & gifted brothers & sisters are taken all around.
Maybe part of the answer is also found in the death of Robert Murray McCheyne's young brother. Dear, Godly pastor McCheyne, who died at 29 himself in 1843, was saved at age 16 due in part to the influence his own brother's death played in his life, helping him realize the brevity of life & his need to have the Savior as his own. Maybe the Lord can use the death of Godly people to open the eyes of the rest of us so we can draw closer to our wonderful Lord & get the correct perspective on life. Who knows, but God Himself? I do know that He is absolute Love & only does what is ultimately best in all situations whether I understand it or not. I appreciate all of your patience in reading this! I look forward to your thoughtful responses. My blog readers are the best! God Bless you all.

When We Can't Pray

"Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose." (Ro.8:26-28, NKJV)

Has there ever been a time when you just felt a great urge to pray, but didn't know how to express it, or as strange as it may sound, what to even express? I can remember a few times, when I just lifted up a grunt, or groan toward the Lord, because the pain & confusion was just too heavy & thick to say anything. I have a strong suspicion that I am not the only one. Well, one of the many benefits (Ps.103:1-5) of being a child of God is that this is enough, when we just cannot express our prayer needs. Our Father knows our needs, & our hearts. He also knows how to supply those needs in such a way that we'll receive them.
I used to think that verse 28 was a new thought after the verses before it, but they are perfectly interrelated! God knows that sometimes it is only severe trials & testings that will get us on our knees so to speak, & it is then that He can use those hard things He lovingly allows into our lives to all work together for good! Not that they are good, but they work together for our good!
Notice however this only works for those called by Him & who love Him. This of course are His children in fellowship with Him! All can be His children if they'll just trust in Christ as Savior, then this magnificent promise is good for you as well! I trust the Lord will use His precious Word in your life today!

Our Brother..........

"Gaius, who is host to me and to the whole church here, greets you. So do Erastus, the city treasurer, and our brother Quartus." (Rom.16:23, Amplified Bible).

Paul was naming some special people God had used in his life in this tremendous final chapter of Romans, & he had said something specific about just about all of them, & then comes this man, Quartus. As far as I know, he is only mentioned this one time in all the Bible. The KJV simply says of him, "...& Quartus a brother." Some other translations of the Scriptures have Paul saying of him, "...Quartus the brother..." & the like. I am probably making far more out of this than is actually in the text, but something really neat just seems to be in Paul's mind as he mentions this brother in the Lord. Under divine inspiration, he doubtless had a good reason to include Quartus in this special list, & also to describe him in such simply sublime terms. I envision a humble believer who was just there for you if you had a need, & was so in tune with his Savior that he just radiated the joy of the Lord. I may be way off-base, but I don't think so. Paul had made the amazing yet true statement that without a single automobile or Internet or airplane, the Gospel had spread all over the then-known world! (see Col.1:23b) No doubt it was through the Spirit of Christ working through quiet, unassuming brothers & sisters who gladly presented their entire beings to the One who died for them & rose again. Oh, brothers & sisters, I'd like to be a brother like ol' Quartus, wouldn't you?
Thoughts?

Psalm 27:8

"When Thou saidst, Seek ye My face; my heart said unto Thee, Thy face, LORD, will I seek."

What a precious text of Scripture! Certainly this reveals the intimate & loving communion between a believer abiding in fellowship with the Lord & the Lord Himself. This entire Psalm, as so many in the Psalter, reveals this beautiful closeness that the Lord so desires from us.
You know, I was looking over the Book of Acts this week, & a great Bible teacher now with the Lord, Dr. G. Campbell Morgan, made a tremendous point in connection with the conversion of Saul of Tarsus, & the Lord's faithful disciple, Ananias (not Sapphira's infamous husband!). As the Lord directed Ananias to go & lay hands on the freshly converted Saul, Ananias understandably balked at first! His response is almost funny! "Lord! Don't You know all the bad things this fellow has done, & that he came here to keep on doing those awful things..." Certainly this is a very rough paraphrase, but the point is clear! Ananias felt comfortable being very open & candid with the Lord, obviously something he was in the habit of doing. Dr. Morgan pointed out that the supernatural simply seemed natural to these early believers! The point is, that they were completely at home with the Lord! The reverse was also true...He was at home in their hearts & lives as well! Isn't that what Paul meant when he said what he did in Ephesians 3:17? Listen to the Amplified version of that text: "May Christ through your faith [actually] dwell (settle down, abide, make His permanent home) in your hearts! May you be rooted deep in love and founded securely on love..." Now we know that once we trust in Christ for eternal life, that positionally we are in Him forever, but in our everyday lives, the Lord wants to do what Paul said in Ephesians 3:17, & what He was doing in Ananias' heart in Acts 9! The Lord desires much more than we do, even at our best moments, to be in intimate, close fellowship with us! This is encouraging, yet also sobering, to think how many times I have left my wonderful Savior desiring much closer fellowship with me while I went off to do some pointless thing in light of eternity...
Anyway, I'm not really sure what my reaon for posting this was, but I do know that we as believers can be as close to the Lord as we want to be, since He has made every effort & put everything in place for it to be so! Let's be like David when he said, "When Thou saidst, Seek ye My face; my heart said unto Thee, Thy face, LORD, will I seek." May the Lord bless you all!