VIDEO Are You Fresh for Everything, in the Hills And Valleys

Are You Fresh for Everything

Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” —John 3:3

Sometimes we are fresh and eager to attend a prayer meeting, but do we feel that same freshness for such mundane tasks as polishing shoes?

Being born again by the Spirit is an unmistakable work of God, as mysterious as the wind, and as surprising as God Himself. We don’t know where it begins— it is hidden away in the depths of our soul. Being born again from above is an enduring, perpetual, and eternal beginning. It provides a freshness all the time in thinking, talking, and living— a continual surprise of the life of God. Staleness is an indication that something in our lives is out of step with God. We say to ourselves, “I have to do this thing or it will never get done.” That is the first sign of staleness. Do we feel fresh this very moment or are we stale, frantically searching our minds for something to do? Freshness is not the result of obedience; it comes from the Holy Spirit. Obedience keeps us “in the light as He is in the light…” (1 John 1:7).

Jealously guard your relationship with God. Jesus prayed “that they may be one just as We are one” — with nothing in between (John 17:22). Keep your whole life continually open to Jesus Christ. Don’t pretend to be open with Him. Are you drawing your life from any source other than God Himself? If you are depending on something else as your source of freshness and strength, you will not realize when His power is gone.

Being born of the Spirit means much more than we usually think. It gives us new vision and keeps us absolutely fresh for everything through the never-ending supply of the life of God.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

If a man cannot prove his religion in the valley, it is not worth anything.  Shade of His Hand, 1200 L

---

Tauren Wells – Hills and Valleys

---

 

My Help!

My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. Psalm 121:2

For decades the renowned Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir has blessed multitudes through their soul-refreshing gospel songs. One example is their recording from Psalm 121 titled “My Help.”

Psalm 121 begins with a personal confession of faith in the Lord who brought all things into existence, and He was the source of the psalmist’s help (vv. 1–2). Just what did this mean? Stability (v. 3), around-the-clock care (vv. 3–4), constant presence and protection (vv. 5–6), and preservation from all kinds of evil for time and eternity (vv. 7–8).

Father, thank You that You are our source of help.

Taking their cues from Scripture, God’s people through the ages have identified the Lord as their source of “help” through their songs. My own worship experience includes lifting my voice with others who sang a soulful rendition of Charles Wesley’s, “Father, I stretch my hands to Thee, no other help I know; if Thou withdraw Thyself from me, ah! whither shall I go.” The great reformer Martin Luther got it right when he penned the words, “A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing; our helper He amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing.”

Do you feel alone, forsaken, abandoned, confused? Ponder the lyrics of Psalm 121. Allow these words to fill your soul with faith and courage. You’re not alone, so don’t try to do life on your own. Rather, rejoice in the earthly and eternal care of God as demonstrated in the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ. And whatever the next steps, take them with His help.

Father, how grateful we are that Scripture and song remind us that You are our source of help. Help me to not forget that this day.

The Maker of the universe is the helper of God’s people!

 

By Arthur Jackson 

INSIGHT

All male Jews were to come to the temple to observe three annual feasts (Deuteronomy 16:16). As the pilgrims made their way up the highlands where Jerusalem is located, they sang from a collection of songs known as the “pilgrim psalms” (Psalms 120–134). The Hebrew title marks these psalms as “songs of ascents.” Psalm 121, the second of the pilgrim psalms, has been called “The Traveler’s Psalm.” The psalmist addresses our need for safety and protection as we journey through life, assuring us that our God will help us and keep us safe. In Psalm 124, David continues this same theme, deliberating the possible disastrous outcomes “if the Lord had not been on our side” (vv. 1–2). Undeniably, if God does not help us, we will not survive! (vv. 3–5). Concluding his deliberations, David assures us that God has not abandoned us. God is our defender and deliverer. With confidence we can say, “My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth” (121:2).

How does Psalm 121 help you when you feel threatened by life’s journey?

K. T. Sim

Maintaining Joy

Psalm 40:16

Though some people use the terms happiness and joy interchangeably, there is a vast difference in their meaning. Both cause a pleasant emotional response, but the former relies entirely upon circumstance. As soon as difficulty arises and pain intrudes, a person ceases to be happy. On the other hand, joy is a gift from God that enables believers to find hope and peace—even when life seemingly falls apart.

At times, however, even Christians live joylessly. Sinful behavior, of course, is one reason. But there can be other causes, too, including regret about past failures, fear of future mishaps, or a pattern of discontentment that’s ingrained in one’s personality.

If you’re a follower of Jesus but lack gladness, take a moment to remember who Christ is and who you are in Him. To begin with, you are saved eternally, and your name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. The love of almighty God is unconditional, and His indwelling Spirit will never abandon you. He understands everything you face and promises to provide for your needs.

When you stop to consider the blessings that are yours in Christ, gratitude will likely overwhelm you. Sadness concerning circumstances may still endure, but the joy of the Lord will carry you through even the deepest pain.

Amid the ups and downs of life, does God’s joy sustain you? Or do trials leave you hopeless and discontented? Our Father offers a higher way of living—not without pain but with strength to endure. Continually remember the vast treasure you have in Him and His promises.

Let Them Alone

“Ephraim is joined to idols: let him alone.” (Hosea 4:17)

The Lord is long-suffering, and those who speak in His name should be also. There do come times, however, when further witness becomes useless or even harmful, or when continued interaction merely invites contamination with ungodliness. In such cases, we must simply leave such people alone, following them with prayer and trusting God alone to deal with them.

Such was the 10-tribe nation of Israel, led by the tribe of Ephraim, just before God sent them into Assyrian captivity. God, through the prophet Hosea, told Judah henceforth to let them alone—they were hopelessly given over to pagan evolutionist idolatry. The words “joined to” in today’s verse mean literally “under the spell of.”

The Lord Jesus used similarly harsh language in reference to the hypocritical Pharisees of His own day: “Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch” (Matthew 15:14).

There are other similar warnings. Of those who come “having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof,” Paul says, “From such turn away” (2 Timothy 3:5). He has also warned us to “shun profane and vain babblings [that is, the empty philosophizing of those who reject God]: for they will increase unto more ungodliness” (2 Timothy 2:16). “And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them” (Ephesians 5:11).

Most, if not all, such warnings seem in context to apply especially to people who once knew and understood the truth, perhaps even professing to accept it for a time and then knowingly rejected it. When such men oppose our testimony, God says to let them alone; He can deal with them better than we. HMM

The Lord will help me

Isaiah 50

Isaiah 50:1

When Israel was carried into captivity it was not because God had forgotten his covenant, or wantonly cast off his people. He was not like a cruel husband who divorces his wife in anger, or like a poor needy father compelled to give up his children to his creditors for debt. No, it was sin which brought every evil upon Israel; sin, and nothing else. This also is true in our case. Sin is the root of misery; if we rebel against God, he will surely make us smart under his displeasure.

Isaiah 50:2, 3

When Jesus came to the Jews they received him not; this was their condemnation. They were lost, not because he could not save, but because they would not receive him.

Isaiah 50:2, 3

God has wrought these marvels and can work them again. By these deeds of power he delivered his people, and he is quite as able to save them now. Their sinful unbelief shuts men out from seeing the great power and love of God.

Isaiah 50:4

Jesus, as man, was endowed with wisdom without measure, for the Spirit in his fulness rested upon him. He knows how to comfort mourners, he is learned in the art of consolation.

Isaiah 50:5, 6

No sufferings daunted our blessed Redeemer; his testimony brought him into shame, but he would not cease from it till he had fulfilled his Father’s will, and accomplished our redemption. Who would not trust such a Saviour?

Isaiah 50:7

This is true, not only of our Lord, but of all his witnesses; the Lord makes them bold, and they tremble not at persecution. They expect to suffer, for Jesus suffered; they are confident of victory, for he overcame.

Isaiah 50:9

The gospel, like its founder, laughs at opposition. Men are but puny things, so feeble that the worm will devour them. The righteous have no cause to fear, they may bear witness for God in spite of the most furious adversaries, for the Lord will triumph in them and by them.

Isaiah 50:10, 11

Children of light often walk in darkness; let them trust in the Lord, and their joy will return. Children of darkness walk in a light of their own kindling, but they have good cause to be afraid; for when the night comes in which they most need a candle, they must go to the bed of the grave in the dark. How solemn a threatening! To lie down in sorrow, sorrow from God’s own hand. Let us escape from such a doom.

 

When we cannot see our way,

Let us trust, and still obey;

He who bids us forward go,

Cannot fail the way to show.

 

God’s Faithful Voice Is To Heard

And take heed to yourselves… and cares of this life. (Luke 21:34)

In a day when judgments are soon to come upon the earth, we are often warned by doctors that we eat too much—and that we worry too much. More of us suffer from mental illness than suffer from major physical illnesses.

In our self-centered lives, even those who are professing believers are prone to think they will hear the trumpets of woe in time to do something about all this. But at that time, it will be too late!

The voice of God is a quiet voice. The voice of God’s love and grace is constant—never strident, never compulsive. God has sent His messengers to every generation. He has spoken urgently and faithfully through His prophets; through the concerns of preachers and evangelists; even through the sweet voices of the gospel singers. Further, God has spoken through witnessing men and women: plain, sincere, loving men and women transformed by a spiritual birth which is from above.

This is the voice of God we hear in this day of grace—the voice of the Savior calling wandering sinners home.

 

The Overcomer

“To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.” Rev. 2:7

No man may turn his back in the day of battle, or refuse to go to the holy war. We must fight if we would reign, and we must carry on the warfare till we overcome every enemy, or else this promise is not for us, since it is only for “him that overcometh.” We are to overcome the false prophets who have come into the world, and all the evils which accompany their teaching. We are to overcome our own faintness of heart, and tendency to decline from our first love. Read the whole of the Spirit’s word to the church at Ephesus.

If by grace we win the day, as we shall if we truly follow our conquering Leader, then we shall be admitted to the very center of the paradise of God, and shall be permitted to pass by the cherub and his flaming sword, and come to that guarded tree, whereof if a man eat, he shall live for ever. We shall thus escape that endless death which is the doom of sin, and gain that everlasting life which is the seal of innocence, the outgrowth of immortal principles of God-like holiness. Come, my heart, pluck up courage! To flee the conflict will be to lose the joys of the new and better Eden; to fight unto victory is to walk with God in Paradise.