That Good Part

" In the shadow of his hand hath he hid me, and made me a polished shaft: in his quiver hath he hid me" (Isa. 49:2). "In the shadow." We must all go there sometimes. The glare of the daylight is too brilliant; our eyes become injured, and unable to discern the delicate shades of color, or appreciate neutral tints--the shadowed chamber of sickness, the shadowed house of mourning, the shadowed life from which the sunlight has gone. But fear not! It is the shadow of God's hand. He is leading thee. There are lessons that can be learned only there. The photograph of His face can only be fixed in the dark chamber. But do not suppose that He has cast thee aside. Thou art still in His quiver; He has not flung thee away as a worthless thing. He is only keeping thee close till the moment comes when He can send thee most swiftly and surely on some errand in which He will be glorified. Oh, shadowed, solitary ones, remember how closely the quiver is bound to the warrior, wit...

I was over on Charlie Campbell's apologetic site, www.alwaysbeready.com , the other day and checked out his blog. He has a link to a segment on CNN in which Dr. John MacArthur, respected Bible teacher, and Doug Pagitt, emergent church leader, debate whether Christians should practice yoga. While this is a topic worth looking at, what is really worth your attention in this clip is Doug Pagitt. If you want to see the redefinition of Christianity that is refered to in 1 John 2:18-29 in our day and age, check him out. Watch it to the end, the most telling portion is Pagitts final comments off camera. I'm too techno-challenged to post the right link here. I'm not a big fan of naming names, it is one of the more unpleasant aspects of talking about false teaching. I'd much rather focus on the error than the person teaching it. People often get all bent out of shape when you name someone they like, thinking you're attacking the person. Deceivers come and deceivers go, but t...

Here's a little A.W. Tozer to start your week: " I have chosen the way of truth; Your judgments I have laid before me. I cling to Your testimonies; O Lord, do not put me to shame! Psalm 119:30- 31 The important thing about a man is not where he goes when he is compelled to go, but where he goes when he is free to go where he will....A man is absent from church Sunday morning. Where is he? If he is in a hospital having his appendix removed his absence tells us nothing about him except that he is ill; but if he is out on the golf course, that tells us a lot. To go to the hospital is compulsory; to go to the golf course, voluntary. The man is free to choose and he chooses to play instead of to pray. His choice reveals what kind of man he is. Choices always do....I think it might be well for us to check our spiritual condition occasionally by the simple test of compatibility. When we are free to go, where do we go? In what company do we feel most at home? Where do our thoughts tur...

My oldest friend and I frequently encourage each other with the reminder that while the Christian life may not always be easy or effortless, it is, always, amazingly simple. Oswald Chambers had a little something to say about that....... "If God so clothes the grass of the field . . . , will He not much more clothe you . . . ? —Matthew 6:30 A simple statement of Jesus is always a puzzle to us because we will not be simple. How can we maintain the simplicity of Jesus so that we may understand Him? By receiving His Spirit, recognizing and relying on Him, and obeying Him as He brings us the truth of His Word, life will become amazingly simple. Jesus asks us to consider that "if God so clothes the grass of the field . . ." how "much more" will He clothe you, if you keep your relationship right with Him? Every time we lose ground in our fellowship with God, it is because we have disrespectfully thought that we knew better than Jesus Christ. We have allowed "the...

"Thy shoes shall be iron and brass; and as thy days, so shall thy strength be" (Deut.33:25). "Each of us may be sure that if God sends us on stony paths He will provide us with strong shoes, and He will not send us out on any journey for which He does not equip us well." Alexander Maclaren

"I COME to do Thy will, O God." That is what we are here for,--to do God's will. That is the object of your life and mine,--to do God's will. Any of us can tell in a moment whether our lives are right or not. Are we doing God's will? We do not mean, Are we doing God's work?--preaching, or teaching, or collecting money,--but God's will. A man may think he is doing God's work when he is not even doing God's will. And a man may be doing God's work and God's will quite as much by hewing stones, or sweeping streets, as by preaching or praying. So the question means just this, Are we working out our common every-day life on the great lines of God's will? HENRY DRUMMOND

I just started to re-read the devotional classic, "Come Away My Beloved". Written from the perspective of God speaking to us, it takes the focus off our petitions and causes us to remember that we are already the recipients of more than we deserve or could ever think to ask. "Wisdom and knowledge will be the stability of your times, and the strength of salvation. Isaiah 33:6" O My beloved, abide under the shelter of the lattice for I have betrothed you to Myself, and though you are sometimes indifferent toward Me, My love for you is at all times as flame of fire. My ardor never cools. My longing for your love and affection is deep and constant. Tarry not for an opportunity to have more time to be alone with Me. Take it, though you leave the tasks at hand. Nothing will suffer. Things are of less importance than you think. Our time together is like a garden full of flowers, whereas the time you give to things is as a field full of stubble. I love you, and if...