See God in Everything...

and your soul, spirit and life will be blessed...

From Streams in the Desert - March 20, 2010

"Give me a new idea," I said,
While musing on a sleepless bed;
"A new idea that'll bring to earth
A balm for souls of priceless worth;
That'll give men thoughts of things above,
And teach them how to serve and love,
That'll banish every selfish thought,
And rid men of the sins they've fought."

The new thought came, just how, I'll tell:
'Twas when on bended knee I fell,
And sought from HIM who knows full well
The way our sorrow to expel.
SEE GOD IN ALL THINGS, great and small,
And give HIM praise whate'er befall,
In life or death, in pain or woe,
See God, and overcome thy foe.

I saw HIM in the morning light,
HE made the day shine clear and bright;
I saw HIM in the noontide hour,
And gained from HIM refreshing shower.
At eventide, when worn and sad,
HE gave me help, and made me glad.
At midnight, when on tossing bed
My weary soul to sleep HE led.

I saw HIM when great losses came,
And found HE loved me just the same.
When heavy loads I had to bear,
I found HE lightened every care.
By sickness, sorrow, sore distress,
HE calmed my mind and gave me rest.
HE'S filled my heart with gladsome praise
Since I gave HIM the upward gaze.

'Twas new to me, yet old to some,
This thought that to me has become
A revelation of the way
We all should live throughout the day;
For as each day unfolds its light,
We'll walk by faith and not by sight.
Life will, indeed, a blessing bring,
If we SEE GOD IN EVERYTHING."
--A. E. Finn

Is hearing God enough?

Stephen Kaung

Do let us realize, dear friends, that there is a great difference between knowing God by hearing and knowing Him by seeing. Job confessed that his knowledge of God in the past had come by hearing; which is to say, that it had been indirect and informational in character and had therefore not been intimate, personal, and experiential enough. It had been more a mental than a spiritual knowledge. Such a knowledge is entirely inadequate, since it puffs up a person instead of bringing him low. Knowing God only by hearing makes one into a somebody, but knowing Him by seeing reduces one to a nobody; to dust and ashes. And this was truly Job's experience. Through the Lord's painful dealing, he has at last seen God. Through the Lord's affliction he has come into a very close and personal encounter with Him.

It is good that in afflictions we meet God. It is He who solves our problems, yet not by explanation but by appearance. our problems are solved when we see Him. For when we see God, we are not so much concerned with our problems as we are concerned with ourselves being the problem; so that we abhor our very selves and repent in dust and ashes. In giving up ourselves we receive more of God, just as John the Baptist expressed it when he confided, I must decrease but He must increase. As we become nothing, God becomes everything.

Miserable or joyful?

Edward Dennett

The most miserable person on the face of the earth is the Christian who is trying to enjoy both worlds. (God's world and this world)

Are you earning your way?

Watchman Nee, one of my favorite writers. An evangelist in his native China spent the remaining years of his life and eventually died in prison because of his faith. I hope you enjoy today's devotion.

Watchman Nee:
Too often we believers have a serious misconception - imagining that while salvation comes to us freely, victory depends on ourselves. We know we cannot add any merit or work of ours to obtain salvation. We must simply come to the cross and accept the Lord Jesus as our Savior. This is the gospel! We realize we cannot be saved by works, yet we reason that for sanctification we must do work after we are saved. This is to say that though you cannot be saved by works, you need to depend on works for victory.

Let me tell you that just as you are not saved by works, so you do not overcome by works. God has declared that you are unable to do good. Christ has died for you on the cross, and He is now living for you within. That which is of the flesh is flesh, and God rejects all that came from it. Nevertheless, we usually surmise that while salvation is dependent upon the substitutionary death of Christ on the cross, we should think of doing, should do good, and expect to do good for victory in our lives. Let us realize, though, that we can do no good. Victory is freely given us by God!

Good Morning Lord or Good Lord, Morning?

FB Meyer

In the early morning, as soon as you awake, remember that you are in the very presence of God, who has been watching beside you through the long dark hours; look up to His face, and thank Him.

Consecrate to Him those first few moments before you leave your bed. Look towards the coming day, through the golden haze of light that streams from the angel of His presence.

You cannot forecast very largely what your difficulties are likely to be, the quarters from which you may be attacked, the burdens that may need carrying. Take care not to view any of these apart from God. Be sure that He will be between you and them, as the ship is between the traveler and the ocean, be it fair or stormy.

As you dress yourself for the day, remember that God supplies you with vesture clean and white, with the meekness and gentleness of Christ, with the garments of salvation, the robes of righteousness, and the jewels of Christian virtue.

Do not look at these things apart from Him; but remember that they are attributes and graces of His own nature with which to array yourself. And above all put on the armor of light; remembering that God is light.

You are to put on Christ, who is God manifest in the flesh, and you are to descend from your room into the arena of daily battle as one who is endued with the beauty of His character. This concentration of thought upon God, during the act of dressing, will prepare the soul for those acts of adoration, thanksgiving, and intercession, which arise to God as the fragrant incense of the Temple.

2010 - A New Year, a New Me?

Since I am not that creative nor have what you would call a talent for writing so I am hoping that for 2010 I can share devotionals that I have read during the year for all. My devotional of choice for this year is 'His Victorious Indwelling' edited by Nick Harrison. A collection of writings by a group of Christians known as 'Victorious Christian Life' Christians who focus on God's grace and God's view of who we are. Watchman Nee and his book 'The Normal Christian Life' transformed my Christian walk from one of trying to please God to one of simply trying to listen and do what God asks me to do. Afterall, isn't that what His son Jesus simply did? Many of these writers you will have never heard of but they should be. Many come from the late 1800's Brethren movement and they have captured what it means to serve God in a way that pleases God and because of that these men and women experienced God in a way that many will never witness. In essence they found the joy of being a Christian and they lived the 'Victorious Christian Life'. I do hope you enjoy these selected writings.

In Him,
John G.

January 1st:

Alexander Maclaren
Let us face this New Year, with all its hidden possibilities, with quiet, brave hearts, resolved to fulfill our duty as those ought who have a past to remember and a future to hope for. It may be the last on earth for some of us. It will probably contain great sorrows for some of us, and great joys for others. It will be comparatively uneventful for others. It may bring great outward changes for us, or it may leave us much as it found us. But, at all events, God will be in it, and work for Him should be in it.

May it be, that when its final hours have slidden away into the gray past, they continue to witness to us of His love, even as, while they were wrapped in the mists of the future, they prevailed on us to hope in Him!

Today's had two great excerpts.

John Newton
I compare the troubles which we have to undergo in the course of a year to a great bundle of sticks, far too large for us to lift. But God does not require us to carry the whole at once. He mercifully unties the bundle, and gies us first one stick, which we are to carry today, and then another, which we are to carry tomorrow, and so on. This we might easily manage, if we should only take the burden appointed for each day - instead we choose to increase our troubles by carrying yesterday's stick over again today, and adding tomorrow's burden to the load, before we are required to carry it.