Author: words and signs

Sinking

“Lord, save me!” Matthew 14:30

This is surely the most fundamental and heartfelt prayer to pray. Three words of heartfelt pleading. An application to the Lord over all for rescue. An indication that He alone can help in this situation. It’s the prayer of a supplicant. One who admits their failure and deep need. If the Lord does not intervene, there is only destruction and death. It is a personal prayer of a wounded soul that needs healing and life.

The tone is one of sorrow and distress. Death looms near and there is no way out if the prayer is not answered. The person praying this is in dire straights and cannot help themselves at all. This soul recognises that the Lord they are calling out to is their only hope. They recognise who this Lord is and that He alone is able to save them.

God says, “You shall seek me, and find me, when you shall search for me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29:13

This is a certainty. If we are really searching with all our intent and earnestness for God, then He will be found by us. If we really want God, we will find Him. When we call out this prayer.. “Lord, save me” then we will be surely rescued.

If you are not a Christian, this is the prayer you need to pray. But to get to this place, you need to recognise your position and the danger of sin in your life. You must recognise what your need is and that only Christ can save you from it and it’s punishment. We only call out when we see what is all around us.

If you are a Christian praying this prayer, then your faith will prevail as you place it in Christ your Saviour. We can find ourselves in situations where we realise only God can help us. This is a good place to be, because He is able and your faith will grow as you exercise it in the power of God. This is how the Christian lives. This is our constant reality. Faith is our state of mind and heart. Difficulties are sent to us to strengthen faith and teach us to fight in the power of the Spirit with the Word of God.

Those who never pray this prayer continue on in a godless life and no protection from the sleepy complacency of the enemy. Let us run to Christ our Saviour. Let us call out to Him in all our need…

“Lord, save me..!” And He will…

Passed

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“The harvest is past, the summer has ended and we are not saved” Jeremiah 8:20 WEB

This is one of those chilling verses in Scripture. The time for coming to Christ to be forgiven and our life put right, is past. The harvest is already gathered in and we are not a part of it. This is the worst possible scenario. The time of summer, it’s light and heat are over and we have not benefited from it. We are yet “unprofitable servants” we are yet unsaved and living under condemnation.

Do we ever check ourselves to ensure we are of the faith or not.? Does it ever concern us that we are not truly His.?

If we read this verse and it doesn’t cause us to ask questions, then we have no concern about eternity in our hearts. Even as a Christian, it should make us think about our salvation and check our lives for godliness.

This Scripture verse seems like the point of no return. The Summer has gone and the harvest is already reaped. There is no other possibility of reprieve. We have missed the gathering in and have wreaked our chances of being included in the harvest for God. But God is kind and may yet speak into our lives. He may yet convict us of sin and our need for repentance and forgiveness. We pray He will still bear with us, even though we have tested His patience mightily.

It’s the time to turn. The season of salvation is almost over. Let us come quickly and now. Let us not linger a moment longer. Maybe the Lord of the harvest will consider our case again, but time is running out, in fact, has really gone.

One day soon, the harvest will be passed forever. No more years to repent and bear fruit. Only a dreadful day of judgment for our life and destruction for our soul. We ignore the warnings of God at our peril.

Why do we waste the Summer and miss the harvest? Nothing to show for the effort of our lives and no spiritual fruit for eternity.

We must immediately seek the Lord. Don’t let a moment go past without knowing His peace in our souls.

“Seek the Lord, and you will live; lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and it devour, and there be no one to quench it in Bethel.”. Amos 5:6

Cling

Psalm 119:33-40 NIV

“Teach me, Lord, the way of your decrees, that I may follow it to the end. Give me understanding, so that I may keep your law and obey it with all my heart. Direct me in the path of your commands, for there I find delight. Turn my heart toward your statutes and not toward selfish gain. Turn my eyes away from worthless things; preserve my life according to your word. Fulfill your promise to your servant, so that you may be feared. Take away the disgrace I dread, for your laws are good. How I long for your precepts! In your righteousness preserve my life.”

The Christian follows right to the end. The Christian is particular about walking according to God’s ways and following Him. We look at Jesus, the one who our faith comes from and the one who will bring us safely home to heaven, by this same faith.

We begin the path of life in faith. We continue every day in faith, constantly seeking direction from the Lord in His holy Word. We realise we need these words more than anything in this world. Seeking this world is selfish gain. It ruins us for God and heaven.

Our eyes must always be towards the Lord. If we let them linger on the things that attract us, we will loose our spiritual life and become useless. Our delight in the truth of God will dim and His promises will mean nothing to us. We pray that God will keep us and fulfil His will in our lives, so that we will recognise Him and be in awe of who He is. A Christian fears the Lord, and fears to fall into sin.

The disgrace of our past sins is a dread to us. The fear of falling into sin again, is a shame to us. We pray that God will take away our disgrace and give us holiness in return.

The constant longing of the Christian is for the law of God to be real to them every day. The Christian realises there is no other way to holiness and to God, than to be preserved by God every day of their lives.

His laws are good. His way is perfect. Faith in Him pleases Him. Total trust is the only way. If we look to the things or people of this life, we will be disappointed and God will be disappointed in us. We must not waver.

Lord, teach us your decrees, that we will follow them until we step into eternity.

Lord, turn my heart to you, and away from me.

Lord, I trust what you say and to you alone I cling…

The fear of the Lord

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“Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name. And they shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him. Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not.” Malachi 3:16-18 KJV

It is a striking attribute of those people who truly love the Lord their God. These people realise who their Saviour is and they fear Him. They understand His ultimate power and complete glory in the highest, and so they revere His name. They also realised what He has done on their behalf and the cost He took on Himself to love them.

So much so, that the conversation of these redeemed people is constantly about Him – who He is and what He has done for them. Christians speak often to each other about what God is doing and they speak to outsiders and bear witness to the ways of God and His person. The Lord hears His people. He hears our conversation and knows what we spend most of our time talking about. He knows that if we are talking about Him, then we are thinking of Him too. He values such thoughts highly. So highly that these precious people will be among His most treasured possessions and will shine like jewels in His everlasting kingdom.

Those who serve the Lord with full hearts will be kept by God and regarded as dear daughters and sons. On that last great day of judgment, God will have regard for what has been done for Him, and the child of God will be spared from shame. But to follow Christ in this life, often means shame and scoffing.

God knows who is really serving Him, and who are just serving themselves. To be a jewel in that everlasting kingdom is to be sincere and obedient to the voice of the Holy Spirit in serving God. We cannot dupe God in following our own selfish desires in His name. There are too many empires being built around individuals who take authority to themselves and think everything is dependant on them. God is side-lined, the Spirit is quenched, and people are puffed up in pride.

Whatever we are asked to do for the sake of Christ, none have pure motives. We all get foolish ideas and have ulterior motives that can squash the effectiveness of the work of God. We can think we know what we are doing, and disobey and disappoint our Lord and God. To serve Him, is to step out in faith so that if you fail, everyone will know you failed. Faith puts everything on the line. It’s all or nothing.

It’s hard for us to deny ourselves and take the low place. We operate in godless ways and use worldly strategies to build organisations. You can have all kinds of acclaim, and miss the crucial acceptance as a daughter or son of the kingdom. A jewel in the treasury of God is not even recognised in this world. These jewels are people who are much despised. They resist the temptations to be praised and well-thought of in this earthly kingdom. God protects them from the false rewards that come from human sources. When they go wrong, they admit it and put things right.

“Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever.” Daniel 12:3 NIV

Fearing God is not popular. But those who fear Him will put away all worldly considerations. Their hearts are focused on Him. They gain a heart of wisdom and will shine like stars in His coming kingdom.

Everything that hinders

“Therefore let’s also, seeing we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let’s run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising its shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him who has endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, that you don’t grow weary, fainting in your souls.”

“Therefore lift up the hands that hang down and the feeble knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed.”

Hebrews 12:1-3, 12-13

This is God’s instruction to His daughters in every generation of human history. Anything that stops us becoming holy, as Jesus is, we must get rid of. Anything that prevents us from learning the Scriptures and living them out in our daily lives, must be set aside. Anything that takes up too much time and stops us being in God’s presence one-to-one, must be curtailed. Whatever sins beset us and keep us from being like Jesus our Lord, must be ruthlessly put out of our lives.

When we are operating as God intends us to, and all ungodliness is progressively done away with, we can run. We run the race of our lives right to the very end. The race of the Christian life, has been marked out for us by our wise God. His purposes will ripen quickly in lives that are given over to Him. Our motivation is Christ Himself. As we fix our intent, will and sight on Him, and as we read the Word of God, our faith grows. He has run the race already and knows the way. Jesus will perfect the faith of every Christian, and teach us every step of the way.

We are His joy. This is hard to understand. How can sinful troublemakers be a joy to the Living Lord!? But even as He stepped out of the womb and into this troubled world, He endured it all for the sake of His people. Amazingly, the shame of such a death as He died, was scorned by Him and did not deflect His intentions. His eyes were on His throne. That’s where He belongs and He is there now, calling His people into His kingdom, and bringing them home to glory also. What a Saviour…

He is our pattern and our power. We will overcome in the power of the Spirit, because of Him. When we are discouraged, we look at Him and how He reacted in every situation. We see His dedication to the Father and His total obedience. This is the way we must go. The rejection and antagonism Jesus faced from the religious leaders of His day, was virulent and murderous. He answered their petty questions, with authority and supreme dignity.

“They hated me without a cause.”John 15:25

Such is the folly of people. When we see how our Lord dealt with these kinds of situations, and the opposition of people, we learn and are encouraged to keep going.

Do not be down hearted if you think God is too harsh with you. We trust in His judgment and rely on His love to go through all troubles. Nothing happens by accident.

Make your arms strong for the fight and your legs strong for the race. It is not easy, but those who belong to God, will get through. Many fall by the wayside but those who guard their behaviour and put a protection around their mind, will not fall. When we do fall, and that is always a possibility, there is forgiveness and restoration when we repent and turn again to the Lord.

We are to tread carefully in this life, as it is full of sin and trouble. Walk circumspectly and obey the Lord your God and you will not fall into temptations. Weakness is our natural state, so we must walk with our Master every step, and in the power of the Holy Spirit we will be victorious.

The key is holiness. Put off all sin and put in obedience. Those who desire Christ will find increasing holiness as they walk with Him.

Sally

Sally is a little rescue dog. Her life up to this point, has not been good. Yet somehow she has maintained a kind and peaceful demeanour and loves Carys, my step mother. Since my Dad died two years ago, life for Carys has become very alone, and aged bones do not keep exercised as much as younger ones.

Sally came along. She is with Carys always. She goes to church with Carys on Sunday morning and sits quietly beside her chair. When the people stand up to sing, Sally stands up too. Do you think God recognises the small gesture from a little rescue dog?

When Carys gets up to play the piano, Sally goes too and she sits and watches her owner play the tunes for the people to sing. Such devotion…

Seems like greater devotion than many Christians I have known. We are so casual the way we approach God’s throne of grace. We seem to constantly ask for things, but never adore Him or love Him for who He is. I think maybe Sally needs to teach people some lessons… maybe we should let dogs-that-care, into our lives, to show us how to care for the people in our lives.

The Lord Jesus talked about the praise from little children… do we hear from them in church.? He loves to hear their words and songs. Children are sincere and haven’t yet learned the cynicism of a sick world. Similarly, the little dog lived with use and abuse, and yet maintained a loving heart…

Should we wish it, we learn from humbler things than ourselves. When we lower our foolish minds to appreciate what the humble Lord of all things loves, we could make a difference.

The spectre of abuse

The specter of abuse is not confronted and dealt with adequately. Those who are regarded and remain lower than the accepted social structure, are vulnerable. It is easy to set the young up to become the property of those with immoral intentions. This can happen unintentionally, as the social rules are set and not questioned or thought through. Young women are groomed to be the prey of unscrupulous men and the sheltered upbringing of young people in organisations, is a hunting ground for the predator.

It appears that abuse is soft-pedaled, and women realise the consequences for them if they should talk about it. The horror of abuse become yet another horror of the possibility of your social group knowing your inner pain and heartaches. Whether we like it or not there are still consequences for sufferers of abuse and judgment of their moral values for being involved in such a situation.

Many women, are silent and carry around huge burdens throughout their lives. Even though they have done nothing wrong, they are sidelined and blamed for being attractive, friendly, soft-hearted, and other female “weaknesses.” Women read the judgmental social mores extremely well, and they know that somehow they themselves will be blamed for what they have suffered.

Abuse is not an isolated issue but is linked with other issues. The status of women, and also children within the social hierarchy of our society is the chink in the protection for them as people. Abuse is a “higher” or “stronger” person taking advantage of another who is perceived as “lower” or “weak.” It is the attitude of the predator that searches for its prey, to maim and kill and destroy. There are those who believe it is their right to take pickings from women and they regard their own immoral behaviour, as part of the lessons of life. This happens on many levels. Human history has a heritage of men using women for their own gain.

If we are to deal with this issue, we must deal with the underlying attitudes that drive it along. We must take away all perceived justification for taking advantage of another person. The mindset of the bully must be dealt with and put out from our social psyche. This will be difficult to do, since it has been there from the start of time, and is an attitude that is part of our human character. The attitude of the weak being easy prey for the strong and power hungry, is an attitude that infiltrates all aspects of our human cultures.

There was one who broke the pattern. Even though He was the Lord of everything and all power resides in His will, He humbled Himself and came among us. He showed us healing and not hurt. He demonstrated humility and washed the feet of His rebellious creation. He loved the unlovely and healed their wounds. When we turned against Him and killed Him, He loved still and paid the awful price for our rebellion and hatred. He brings all who seek Him, into His eternal kingdom, and cancels all their debt and dispels all their fears.

We are not like this man. We cannot change people, or educate them into good behaviour. Our only hope as individual people, is to repent and be changed. The purpose of this man, this God, is to save us. Only He can do it. Only He can forgive sin and give a new heart. The answer to our problems in regard to abuse, is this Saviour.

We reject our own self-righteousness and ask for His. He gives it freely to anyone who believes. He alone is the answer for the abused and the abuser. There is no other hope. Our social groups must be places of refuge and protection, and that means we must act and be like He is. We must open our eyes to our own weaknesses and face our sins. When we deal with our own predisposition to regard others as less, we will be in a good place to address this issue in our minds, families, societies and cultures.

The Woman of God

Psalm 112:1-10 is a profile and a prayer for all women who love the Lord their God.

“Praise the Lord.

Blessed is the woman who fears the Lord, who finds great delight in his commands.

Her children will be mighty in the land; the generation of the upright will be blessed. Wealth and riches are in her house, and her righteousness endures forever.

Even in darkness light dawns for the upright, for the woman who is gracious and compassionate and righteous.

Good will come to the woman who is generous and lends freely, who conducts her affairs with justice. Surely the righteous woman will never be shaken; she will be remembered forever.

She will have no fear of bad news; her heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord. Her heart is secure, she will have no fear; in the end she will look in triumph on her foes.

She has freely scattered her gifts to the poor, her righteousness endures forever; her horn will be lifted high in honor.

The wicked woman will see and be vexed, she will gnash her teeth and waste away; the longings of the wicked woman will come to nothing.”

Statutes

Psalm 119:14 NIV
“I rejoice in following your statutes as one rejoices in great riches.”

“Statutes” sound very dry. They conjure up a long list of rules that must be kept. They see somehow rigid. The word sounds so solid and unyielding. “Stature” is about being large and grand and unmovable. “Statutes” sound like statues and lifeless figures. Statutes are boring.

The person who wrote these lines had a different view. Statutes are to be loved and revelled in. This writer says he is rejoicing when he thinks of God’s statutes and is thrilled about following them.

What kind of person is this.?

This is someone who loves God with all their heart. The heart belongs to God and is in nature like God’s own heart. To follow God’s ways that He has laid down in the written Word, is like being given a huge amount of money. To be given a massive treasure or great riches, enables a person to do so many things they could not do before. The doors of life open to have and to do wonderful things. The excitement of getting riches can sometimes put people in a place they hadn’t imagined. It can even cause trouble for the person because it is too much for them to cope with.

To have God’s Word and to live in the light of it, is so exciting for this person. He says it is as if he has got an earthly inheritance which has filled his life with delight. But these statutes are eternal and last beyond the grave. For the Christian believer, God’s statutes are known, loved and rehearsed every day. The following of them brings joy to the heart.

Do we know them well enough to rejoice?

Do we know the God whose heart has spoken them?

Are those statutes full of meaning and power in our lives?

Psalm 119:15-16 NIV
“I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways. I delight in your decrees; I will not neglect your word.”

These few verses denote for us holy, victorious Christian living…