"...let the one who has my word speak it faithfully" - Jeremiah 23:28

The prophet Jeremiah was called to speak messages for God at an early age.  His task was not easy as much of what he had to say was about the destruction of Judah.  But he was faithful and he grieved terribly over pride and disobedience.  God spoke to him over and over again, encouraging him to speak only what He gives him  This was one of His messages for Jeremiah...stating and restating the power of His word:  "...like a hammer that breaks a rock to pieces".  Listen to the Layman's Commentary on this verse:

"The divine word is able to cope with all that thwarts its

way, to consume and pulverize the obstructions of evil,

the false strongholds of entrenched evil, the

pseudogospel of the false prophets."

 

There is much evil in the world today...but we have hope...His divine word has been given to us for direction and strength - much as it had been given to Jeremiah in his day.  We must know it and speak it!  The time has come when we can no longer sit back and hope someone else will speak for righteousness...that task has been given to us who believe!  The issues that are facing us in the church today demand that we "always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.  But do this with gentleness and respect" (1 Peter 3:15).  We can do that and hold high the standards that His word give us by the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit.

 

Dudley Tyng was a pastor in Philadelphia in the 1800s and had a tremendous burden for husbands and fathers to know Christ and follow him.  Thousands of men were converted under his teaching.  At his funeral, a young pastor was deeply moved by this pastor's commitment to preaching the gospel.  He read a poem - which was later written as a hymn and we still sing it today:

 

Stand up stand up for Jesus, Ye soldiers of the cross

Lift high His royal banner, it must not suffer loss.

 

You are I must lift His banner high...I believe it is why we are here today.  My question to myself is:  are you standing up for Jesus wherever you are?  I was proud of Amanda Thatcher last week...at her grandmother's funeral in England, she read Ephesians 6:10-18 on putting on the armor of God.  May we all be public proclaimers of His precious word.

 

For further study:  Psalm 40:9-11, Psalm 119:9,160, Isaiah 45:19, Isaiah 59:21, Matthew 10;27, Romans 1:25, John 17:17, John 18:38, Eph. 4:15, Col. 4:5-6, 2 Tim 2:15

 

Be blessed in your understanding of God's word.

 

Love,

Holly

Do not worry about tomorrow - Matthew 6:34

My pillow for today might better read "Do not worry about yesterday"...the Boston tragedy has us all alarmed and praying to our God, who is not surprised by the tragedy...He grieves over the sin and wickedness.  He wants us to turn to Him in the good days and the not so good.  He is still a sovereign and omnipotent God who remains on the throne.  He still holds the stars in place and knows the plans He has for us...and they are good.

We have concerns about our world...but His word still tells us not to worry.  I heard something on KLove last week:  "Worry never makes the future easier; it only makes the present harder."  Jesus, speaking in the Sermon on the Mount, exhorts us not to worry and then proceeds to give us promises of why we shouldn't waste our time worrying. In reading David Powlison's booklet on Worry, he listed those promises in a slightly different way as told in Luke 12:22-34.  Simply put, they are:

1.  Your life is so much more than food or clothing. (v. 22)
2.  Jesus tells people to look around at the world and what he provides. (v. 24)
3.  Which of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? (v. 25)
4.  Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. (v. 27-28)
5.  Your Father will give you what you need. (v. 30)
6.  God promises you Himself. (v. 31-32)
7.  Your Father calls you to the radical freedom of giving your life away. (v. 33)

Sanctus Real sings in PROMISES:

 

"Sometimes it's hard to keep believing in what you can't see

That everything happens for a reason...even the worst life brings.

If you're reaching for an answer and you don't know what to pray

Just open up the pages; let His word be your strength

Hold on to the promises

Jesus is alive, so hold on to the promises"

 

For further study: Joshua 21:45,  Psalm 33:11, Jer. 29:11, Acts 2:39, Romans 4:20-21, Galatians 3:14, Hebrews 10:23, 2 Peter 1,4; 2 Peter 3:9

 

Be blessed in your understanding of God's word.

 

Love,

Holly



How great is the love the Father has lavished upon us - 1 John 3:1

Matthew West has a song out "Hello, My name is..." and it begins by describing how we can be identified by the regrets in our lives, or the defeats, or the lies.  We allow hard times and mistakes to define us, but we don't have to let the "wreckage behind" stay with us when His word calls us "children of God".  Listen to what he says:

 

Hello, my name is child of the one true King

I've been saved, I've been changed,and I have been set free.

"Amazing Grace" is the song I sing.

Hello, my name is child of the one true King.

What love the Father has lavished upon us

That we should be called His children.

I am a child of the one true King.

 

Have you ever lavished whipped cream on an ice cream sundae?  The love the Father has lavished upon us is better than a million helpings of whipped cream.  This isn't the kind of love you can make up...this is agape love.  Vine's concordance says "...this is an exercise of the Divine will in deliberate choice, made without assignable cause save that which lies in the nature of God Himself."  We are loved not because of anything we are or do...we are loved because "God is love" (1 John 4:16).

 

Mark Driscoll tells a story in WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? about the German theologican, Karl Barth.  He was visiting the United States on a lecture tour and at one point was asked what was the single most important theological discovery he had made.  Driscoll says: "after stopping to consider his answer carefully, Barth said "Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so".  So profound and so simple...a child's song speaking this transforming truth.

 

You are loved by the Creator of the world...the next time you are tempted to define yourself in a negative sense, remember this:  "You are a child of the one true King"!

 

For further study:  Exodus 20:4-6, Psalm 32:10, Psalm 36:5, Psalm 103:11, Psalm 107, Jeremiah 31:3, John 1:12, John 15:9-17, Romans 5:8, Ephesians 2:4-5, 1 John 4:16-21

 

Be blessed in your understanding of God's word.

 

Love,

Holly 

RESURRECTION GREETING!

Hello, friends.  No new pillows today...this week is all about Jesus and the tremendous gift He has given us.  Until I die I don't think I'll understand why so many around the world will not receive this free gift of salvation.  He offers it freely...if we will simply believe in Him, we will be rescued, cleansed and put to work doing things He gives us the power to do!

On the Thursday of the last week of His life, He had a final meal with his beloved (most of them) disciples and went to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray.  He took some of those friends with him...sometimes we just want precious friends around us when we face difficult moments.  The most incredible lesson from this moment was that we see Resurrection Power about to unfold in the submission of our Savior.  In Matthew 26:36-46 we see this account.  We see He was "troubled and sorrowful"...He said to His Father:  "if it's possible, may this cup be taken from me" (v. 39).  He knew what was coming and knew it would not be easy.  But then a short while later in v. 42, we see His submission: "if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away...may your will be done."  I was wondering...if He had not willingly gone to the cross...would that glorious resurrection have happened on the third day?  Would all the power of the universe not have raised Him from the dead so that He lives even today and speaks for us?

Listen to what Vernon Grounds says about that kind of submission:

 

"Baffled by the mystery of such love, we take our stand

on Calvary and believe that any cup we drink is held to our lips

by the Father of fathomless love and wisdom.  Our prayer

is that of trustful submission because we believe that

even life's most bitter cup is held in the Father's hand."

 

I wonder what the Father's power would do in my life if I were as submitted to His plan as Jesus was.

This Easter, let us be grateful to the One who created the universe and made a place for us to live and walk with Him.  I don't know what cup you have been asked to drink, but I know that whatever one comes to my lips will come through the hands of the Father.  That's good enough for me.

 

For further study: 2 Chron. 7:14, Psalm 25:9, Psalm 51:10-17, Proverbs 3:34,  Mark 14:32-41, Luke 22:39-46, John 18:11,  2 Cor. 12:9, Hebrew 12:1-3,  James 4:4-10, 1 Peter 5:5

 

Happy Resurrection Day, everyone!

 

Love,

Holly



Peace comes to him who trusts the Lord - Isaiah 26:3

"You will keep in perfect peace

him whose mind is steadfast,

because he trusts in you."

Isaiah 26:3

I'm holding on to this promise this week because I am about to start a thrilling week and when I get around "thrilling" my emotions are all over the chart.  I can hardly contain my excitement, my heart spills over with gratitude, I don't want to miss a single moment of it...and I'm a mess!  The promise of "perfect peace" is my only hope.

Do you know there are over 3000 promises in the Bible...promises made to those who believe He is faithful in all He says and does?  This verse in Isaiah is a promise...to whom?   To the one "who trusts" in the only One who has ever kept every single promise He has ever made.  Promises are a sure thing.  Do you often not know what to pray?  You can pray with confidence toward these promises and know that it pleases the Lord when you do.  Listen to what F.B. Meyer says:

Hardly any stance could be more completely beautiful, strong or safe

than that of putting your finger on a promise of God...and then claiming it. 

Doing so requires no anguish, struggle, or wrestling, but simply presenting the

check and asking for cash  It is as simple as producing the promise

and claiming its fulfillment.  Nor will there be any doubt or cloudiness about the request.

If all requests were this definitive, there would be much more interest in prayer.  It is

much better to claim a few specific things than to make twenty vague requests.

 

There will be days when you feel you cannot adjust to the changes you are facing.  His promises assure you you can.  When your heart is unsure, His is not.  Here's an idea:  find 365 promises in the Bible, and every day start your devotional with a promise of His.  Let your requests flow from that promise and see if you're not blessed abundantly!

 

I'm praying for peace this week and I'm claiming His promise that if I will keep my mind steadfastly on Him, He will provide "perfect peace" and that means His Holy Spirit - who develops peace in us (Gal. 5:22) will go with me and guide me into His truth.  That's a pretty perfect promise!

 

For further study:  1 Chron. 17:23-24, Psalm 33:4, Psalm 46:1, Psalm 145:13, Acts 2:38-39, Romans 4:20-21, Romans 8:38-39, 2 Cor. 12:7-10,  1 Thes. 5:24, Hebrews 10:23, 2 Peter 1:4, 2 Peter 3:9

 

Be blessed in your understanding of God's word.

 

Love,

Holly

TO GOD BE THE GLORY

 

Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!

Let the earth hear His voice.

Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!

Let the people rejoice.

O come to the Father thro Jesus the Son

And give Him the glory, great things He has done!

 

TO GOD BE THE GLORY by Fanny Crosby

 

This was one of the first hymns I fell in love with as a newly saved believer.  He rescued me from the pit...how could He not get all the glory?  Composers like Bach and Handel signed many of their works "S.D.G." (Soli Deo Gloria) to give "Glory to God alone" for their works.  Maybe I should start adding that to my pillows!  It is one of the basic beliefs of the Protestant Reformation that God alone is worthy of  honor...not we ourselves.

 

We so often turn this around.  You don't have to look very far (I don't have to look any further than myself!) to know people want fame, recognition, appreciation, gratitude and praise for things that God alone has done for us.  He has made us for Himself, given us gifts and opportunities and directed us in ways we could never have made up.

 

Timothy Keller in  THE REASON FOR GOD  talks about each person of the Trinity "dancing around each other" (perichoresis) in their delight of each other (John 16:14, 17:4-5).  Since we were made in Their image (Gen. 1:26) we were made to delight in Them.  That is our purpose...the reason we were created!  Keller says:

 

God made us to ever increasingly share in his own joy and

delight in the same way he has joy and delight within himself...

We glorify and enjoy him only as we worship him, serve the

human community and care for the created environment.

 

I had a conversation with a dear friend last week who is preparing to go into a heart-wrenching legal situation not of her choice.  She said: "I don't know what the purpose of this is, but all I can say is 'To God be the Glory'".  That is faith and that gives her the peace to go foward even though it's the last thing in the world she wants to do.  This friend is in a dance with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  She was joyful and content even in the midst of a terrible trial.  May it be said of all of us!  Who are you delighting in today?

 

For further study:  Exodus 15:11, Psalm 10:1, 65:12-13, Proverbs 3:5-6, Isaiah 24:15, 48:11, John 16:14, 17:1-5, 20-24, Romans 1:21-25, 16:27, 1 Cor. 10;31 and 2 Tim. 4:18.

 

Be blessed in your understanding of God's word.

 

Love,

Holly

 



Hear my prayer, O Lord - Psalm 86:6

This psalm is an example of believing prayer.  David gave many indications of his complete faith in God in these verses: "I am devoted to you, You are my God", "I call to you all day long", "you will answer me", "there is none like you"...and yet he was crying out to God for help in his circumstances. We have further evidence of David's utter and complete faith in Psalm 27:13:

I am still confident of this:

I will see the goodness of the Lord in the

land of the living.

 

 

He had not seen his answers, but he knew that his God would be good to him. In 1 Samuel 17:37 David stated his confidence: "The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear, will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine." So often I think we don't really believe God will hear us and answer us.  David had had many answers to prayer in his life...I have had many answers to prayer in my life...and yet, we still get discouraged and doubt that our problems are real to our Father in heaven or that they are important enough to warrant His attention.  I'm afraid many times our lack of confidence shows in our wimpy fruit.

 

L.B. Cowman says: "True faith relies on God and believes before seeing...Faith that believes it will see, will keep us from becoming discouraged."

 

Are you believing today that what you sought from Him earnestly this morning, will be granted?  Do you believe He will answer according to His will and His best for you today?  His word tells us He hears and answers.  His character and His word promises goodness to those who walk in His ways.

Mark 11:24 says: "...whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours."

 

For further study: 1 Chronicles 5:20,  Psalm 40:1, Psalm 66:16-20, Psalm 91:14-15, Matthew 21:22, John 20:29, 2 Cor. 5:7, Hebrews 11:1, 6, James 5:13-16.

 

Be blessed in your understanding of God's word.

 

Love,

Holly