VIDEO A Quiet Heart

“Quiet My Mind” is a wall art print done with a personal prayer of mine as an overlay on an art print I have done using a watercolor technique of a boats in a foggy harbor. As a Christian artist, I seek to make sure that the prayer and thought I am using is a good marriage with the art print I put it on. In this particular case the scene is perfect, the stillness of a foggy harbor in the early morning hours. The next step in the process is picking the font and finding the correct position on the picture. After reviewing more fonts than you want to know, the positioning wasn’t so obvious. Placing the words sometimes takes more time than finding the right font, but as you can see on this final image, I put them to the top left as a balance to the boats.

When He gives quietness, who then can make trouble? Job 34:29

 

One day in 1947, when Elisabeth Elliott was a student at Wheaton College, she was sitting near a friend at the piano in one of the campus buildings. Elisabeth had written a short poem, and her friend composed a melody on the spot. Over time the melody was lost, but years later Elisabeth included the words in her book Keep a Quiet Heart.

Lord, give to me a quiet heart

That does not ask to understand,

But confident steps forward in

The darkness guided by Thy hand.[1]

We understand so little! God’s thoughts are as far above ours as heaven is above the earth. But He knows the plans He has for us, and they are important. Sometimes we feel as though our life is insignificant, but all of us are part of God’s sovereign design. Your life is important, and you can step confidently forward knowing Your Lord is already there.

We are created to glorify Him as long as we live on this planet, and to enjoy Him for the rest of eternity. Our task is simply to trust and obey. Elisabeth Elliott

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Job 29-31 – Job’s Summary Defense

Running for What Matters

Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Hebrews 12:1

It was impossible not to tear up at my friend Ira’s status update. Posted in 2022 only days after she’d left her home in Kyiv, the besieged capital of Ukraine, she shared a past image of herself lifting her country’s flag after completing a running event. She wrote, “We are all running to the best of our abilities a marathon called life. Let’s run it these days even better than that. With something that never dies in our hearts.” In the following days, I saw the many ways my friend continued to run that race, as she kept us updated on how to pray for and support those suffering in her country.

Ira’s words brought new depth to the call in Hebrews 12 for believers to “run with perseverance” (v. 1). That call follows chapter 11’s moving account of the heroes of faith, the “great cloud of witnesses” (12:1) who’d lived with courageous, persistent faith—even at risk to their lives (11:33–38). Even though they “only saw . . . and welcomed [God’s promises] from a distance” (v. 13), they were living for something eternal, for something that never dies.

All believers in Jesus are called to live that same way because the shalom—the flourishing and peace—of God’s kingdom is worth giving our all for. Christ’s example and power is what sustains us (12:2–3).

By:  Monica La Rose

Reflect & Pray

What examples have you seen of courageous faith? How does Jesus’ example give you hope?

Dear God, words fail me when I see Your people’s faith and courage in heartbreaking circumstances. Give me the courage to follow You like that.

The Holy Spirit, An Absolute Essential

Are you living with the strength, wisdom, and joy the Lord wants to give? Romans 8:1-17

Of the three members of the Trinity, perhaps the most overlooked is the Holy Spirit. Yet He’s co-equal with the Father and the Son. The opening chapter of Scripture tells us that He existed before the formation of the earth and participated in creation (Genesis 1:2; Genesis 1:26). Today, He plays a critical role in the salvation, spiritual growth, and empowerment of believers.  

At the moment of salvation, God’s Spirit comes to permanently dwell within each new believer. His presence within us isn’t something we have to earn or acquire; it’s a gift to every child of God. His work is to transform us into the image of Christ, give us understanding of Scripture, convict us when we sin, empower us to overcome temptation and walk in obedience to God, and guide us throughout life. When we yield to His leadership, we’ll receive all the benefits of His work within us. 

Are you experiencing the fullness of the Spirit? Though we’re never promised happy circumstances throughout life, the Holy Spirit can produce joy and contentment within us, even in trying situations. If you’re lacking in this area, pray for sensitivity and responsiveness to the Spirit’s instruction and leadership. 

A Voice from Heaven

“And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: And lo a voice from heaven, saying, this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:16-17)

We have not only the solemn endorsement of our Lord for the ordinance of baptism by His submitting to it (to fulfill all righteousness, Matthew 3:15), but also such a glorious demonstration of baptism as will never occur again. In this event, we see the presence of all three persons of the holy Trinity—God the Son who is baptized, God the Spirit who descends like a dove and rests upon Jesus, and God the Father who audibly speaks from heaven.

This is a clear indication that Christ’s redemptive mission involved the eternal counsel of all three persons of the Godhead. Interestingly, we also see evidence of the trinitarian counsel at the beginning of man’s creation in Genesis 1:26: “Let us make man in our image.” And again the triune God makes a profound declaration at the beginning of the New Testament journey of Christ Jesus to redeem and save mankind, created 4,000 years prior, who had fallen into total depravity in the Edenic rebellion (Genesis 3).

In the Lord’s baptism account, “a voice from heaven” is also significant because of the previous instance of God speaking from heaven in the giving of the law on Sinai (Exodus 20). Our Father in heaven wanted to mark both occasions with special honor. Profoundly, the introduction of the gospel was heralded by the Father’s words proclaiming, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” JPT

The 70 and the Samaritan

Luke 10:1-37

OUR Lord sends out seventy disciples (Luke 10:1-24) with a charge similar to that given to the twelve in Matthew 10. Once in a while, some literal-minded questioner wants to know why preachers do not now go out without purse or scrip, according to these directions. This was local ministry to Israel under conditions vastly different from ours. Later, when His disciples must face a Gentile world, our Lord gave quite different instructions (Luke 22:35-36).

Later, the seventy returned with joy, reporting that even the devils were subject unto them. Our Lord answers, “I saw Satan as lightning fall from heaven.” He was with them in their ministry and saw Satan defeated, and here He also sums up in a flash his final defeat—even as he fell from heaven (Isa. 14:12-19) long before, a sight which our Lord doubtless beheld. Revelation 12:7-12 also pictures this fall of Satan. Our Lord is assuring them that as He saw Satan fall at first, so He sees him finally defeated—which is typified by their success in casting out demons.

After giving them power over the enemy our Lord bids them not to rejoice in that, but that their names are written in heaven. The sole ground of our rejoicing is not in our powers or successes, but in the unmerited and undeserved grace of God.

Jesus thanks the Father that the profound truths of heaven have been kept from the wise and prudent and revealed unto babes, the childlike (Matt. 18:3). He tells His disciples that they are privileged to see what prophets and kings had longed for. Marvelous truth—that the greatest revelation of all time was made to the humblest, the simple and lowly disciples who received Him gladly! It has always been so through the ages in His subsequent revelations through the Spirit. “More blessed are they that see not, yet believe” (John 20:29) and “not many wise or mighty or noble are called” (1 Cor. 1:26-31).

The familiar story of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37) was given instead of argument to the lawyer who asked, “Who is my neighbor?” He thought only Jews were his neighbors, and our Lord makes two Jews pass by in this story while the hero was a Samaritan. This must have been distasteful to the lawyer. Moreover, Jesus did not give the nationality of the wounded man, so that any nationality may be meant. Whoever needs our help is our neighbor, and whoever helps another is a true neighbor, so it works both ways.

It was a masterful presentation of a mighty truth, so skillfully done that the lawyer was obliged to confess the truth so evident. Our Lord then bids him, “Go thou and do likewise.” The truths of the Word are not merely for reading and inspiration. We are to “go and learn what this meaneth.”

“Teaching them to observe”—not merely to know but to do—is His command. “If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.”

“Who is on the Lord’s side.”

Exodus 2:1-10

Exodus 2:4

to wit or know

Faith watches to see what God will do.

Exodus 2:5

Providence is manifest here. How was the ark kept from the crocodiles? Why did the princess come to that particular spot? How came her eye to light upon that little floating coffer hidden among the bulrushes? Why should she desire to look within it? Surely the Lord’s hand was in it all.

Exodus 2:6

The providence which brought the princess to the spot, brought the tears into the babe’s eyes at the very moment when they would be seen, and aid in touching the beholder’s pity.

Exodus 2:7, 8

How graciously the Lord arranges for us.

Exodus 2:9

Thus speaks the Lord to every godly mother. No service upon earth is so well repaid to a parent as the pious nurture of her children.

Hebrews 11:24-26

Hebrews 11:24

He had been so called in his youthful days, but when he could choose for himself he declined the highest rank as an Egyptian, and took his place with persecuted Israel.

Acts 7:22-29

Acts 7:22

His education, when sanctified by God’s Spirit, helped to prepare him for his eminent position as the leader and lawgiver of the tribes. No other prophet until our Lord came was mighty both in words and deeds.

Acts 7:23

The life of Moses divides itself into three forties—forty at court, forty with Jethro, and forty in the wilderness.

Acts 7:24-28

The mission of the greatest and best of men is not at once perceived.

Now for the love I bear His name,

What was my gain I count my loss;

My former pride I call my shame,

And nail my glory to His cross.

Yes, and I must and will esteem

All things but loss for Jesus’ sake:

Oh may my soul be found in Him,

And of His righteousness partake!

Christ Died Even for Those Who Hated Him

Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. Acts 4:12

Our Lord Jesus Christ came and demonstrated the vast difference between being charitable and being tolerant! He was so charitable that in His great heart He took in all the people in the world and was willing to die even for those who hated Him!

But even with that kind of love and charity crowning His being, Jesus was completely frank and open when He taught: “If you are not on my side, you are against me!” There is no “twilight zone” in the teachings of Jesus—no place in between.

So, charity is one thing, but tolerance is quite another matter.

Suppose we take the position of compromise that many want us to take: “Everyone come, and be saved if you want to. But if you do not want to be saved, maybe there is some other way that we can find for you. We want you to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ if you will, but if you do not want to, there may be a possibility that God will find some other way for you because there are those who say that there are many ways to God.”

To take that position would not be a spirit of tolerance on our part—it would be downright cowardice! We would be guilty with so many others of a spirit of compromise that so easily becomes an anti-God attitude. Tolerance easily becomes a matter of cowardice if spiritual principles are involved, if the teachings of God’s Word are ignored and forgotten!

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