Saturday April 30

Saturday the ultimate day... the traditional day of rest, the 7th day of rest, the day of choice and freedom for most of us who can read on the internet.  Of course the vast majority of humanity does not have this gift yet.


Well, today's meditation addresses this in a way.  We all want to communicate.  The most important conversation is with our God.   F. B. Meyer gives us this thought:



April 30


How the Characteristics of Grace Appear


And we have such trust through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant.  (2Co_ 3:4-6)


We have been considering some characteristics that God wants to develop in our lives by His grace: namely, triumphant living, a fragrance of Christ, godly sincerity, and becoming living letters of Christ. How do these appear in our lives in an ever-increasing manner? As Paul wrote on these wonderful descriptions of godly living, his heart was stirred to ask, "And who is sufficient for these things? " (2Co_2:16). Paul fully realized that man cannot produce these realities. Human resources are inadequate. 
These heavenly traits grow in those who are living by the terms of the new covenant (humbly trusting in God, not in ourselves). " And we have such trust through Christ toward God." Paul's confidence in exhibiting these spiritual qualities of life was directed toward God, based upon the relationship that is available in Jesus Christ. This is not self-confidence; it is God-confidence. God must produce these characteristics. 


There is no room for believers to trust in themselves. "Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves," We are not the source of any of these wonderful traits of godly living. They must all come from God at work in us. "Our sufficiency is from God." When we live in humble dependency, the Lord's supply becomes our needed sufficiency. "Our sufficiency is from God, who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant." 
Yes, new covenant servants live by the grace of God. Consequently, their sufficiency is what the Lord Himself supplies! This is precisely what God promised of old through His prophets. "I will make a new covenant . . . I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts" (Jer_31:31, Jer_31:33). God inscribes these spiritual traits upon the inner man (the heart and the mind) by His grace. The results are these characteristics of godliness develop in our lives. 
Again, we are looking at living by humility and faith. "God . . . gives grace to the humble" (Jam_4:6). 
Also, faith accesses grace: "through whom [that is, the Lord Jesus Christ] also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand" (Rom_5:2).


O Holy Father, I long to grow in these godly traits. I am not sufficient to produce them by my resources.  My only hope is to be changed by You from the inside out. I humbly bow before You. With confidence in You, I ask that You unleash Your grace upon my heart and mind, as I seek You in Your word. Through Christ my Lord, I pray, Amen.


I pray for you and for me and all our friends, brothers and sisters that we may live in full meditation and conversation with our God.  May the love and grace of God be filled in our lives.
Have a wonderful day in our Lord Jesus!

Friday April 29

Hello my friend,
Can it be that time goes by so fast.  They say that as we age our sense of time slows, therefore time does  indeed go faster for us.  What is a minute for young folks is fifty seconds for us old folks.  So time speeds up and we age faster.  Great!
All that means for me is that I get closer to HOME, Heaven just that much sooner.  Praise God.


Today's meditation, from Charles Spurgeon:



April 29


Morning


“Thou art my hope in the day of evil.” - Jer_17:17


The path of the Christian is not always bright with sunshine; he has his seasons of darkness and of storm. True, it is written in God’s Word, “Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace;” and it is a great truth, that religion is calculated to give a man happiness below as well as bliss above; but experience tells us that if the course of the just be “As the shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day,” yet sometimes that light is eclipsed. At certain periods clouds cover the believer’s sun, and he walks in darkness and sees no light. There are many who have rejoiced in the presence of God for a season; they have basked in the sunshine in the earlier stages of their Christian career; they have walked along the “green pastures” by the side of the “still waters,” but suddenly they find the glorious sky is clouded; instead of the Land of Goshen they have to tread the sandy desert; in the place of sweet waters, they find troubled streams, bitter to their taste, and they say, “Surely, if I were a child of God, this would not happen.” Oh! say not so, thou who art walking in darkness. The best of God’s saints must drink the wormwood; the dearest of his children must bear the cross. No Christian has enjoyed perpetual prosperity; no believer can always keep his harp from the willows. Perhaps the Lord allotted you at first a smooth and unclouded path, because you were weak and timid. He tempered the wind to the shorn lamb, but now that you are stronger in the spiritual life, you must enter upon the riper and rougher experience of God’s full-grown children. We need winds and tempests to exercise our faith, to tear off the rotten bough of self-dependence, and to root us more firmly in Christ. The day of evil reveals to us the value of our glorious hope.


Evening


“The Lord taketh pleasure in his people.” - Psa_149:4


How comprehensive is the love of Jesus! There is no part of his people’s interests which he does not consider, and there is nothing which concerns their welfare which is not important to him. Not merely does he think of you, believer, as an immortal being, but as a mortal being too. Do not deny it or doubt it: “The very hairs of your head are all numbered.” “The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord: and he delighteth in his way.” It were a sad thing for us if this mantle of love did not cover all our concerns, for what mischief might be wrought to us in that part of our business which did not come under our gracious Lord’s inspection! Believer, rest assured that the heart of Jesus cares about your meaner affairs. The breadth of his tender love is such that you may resort to him in all matters; for in all your afflictions he is afflicted, and like as a father pitieth his children, so doth he pity you. The meanest interests of all his saints are all borne upon the broad bosom of the Son of God. Oh, what a heart is his, that doth not merely comprehend the persons of his people, but comprehends also the diverse and innumerable concerns of all those persons! Dost thou think, O Christian, that thou canst measure the love of Christ? Think of what his love has brought thee-justification, adoption, sanctification, eternal life! The riches of his goodness are unsearchable; thou shalt never be able to tell them out or even conceive them. Oh, the breadth of the love of Christ! Shall such a love as this have half our hearts? Shall it have a cold love in return? Shall Jesus’ marvellous lovingkindness and tender care meet with but faint response and tardy acknowledgment? O my soul, tune thy harp to a glad song of thanksgiving! Go to thy rest rejoicing, for thou art no desolate wanderer, but a beloved child, watched over, cared for, supplied, and defended by thy Lord.


With God on your side, all things are possible.  
Have Faith, have Hope, and wait on God's grace.
Have a wonderful day.

Thursday April 28

Good morning,
Our lives are such short spans of time, yet that is all we have and all we know.  In our short three score and ten we cram in all we can.  We grow, we learn, we strive, we achieve, we rest, we dream, we hope, we grow old, we die.
We are frail, we are so fragile in all ways and yet we believe we can be immune, immortal.  Such futility.


Our Lord Christ died on the holy cross for us, so that it does not stop at death and nothing is futility.  We strive for a higher reason besides our own greed.  
But at what price? 
God Himself died for you and me...God so loved you and me that He gave up His life for you and me, died a most horrible death known at His time to take away your sins and my many sins.


Praise God.  Today's meditation by George H. Morrison addresses the final moments of our Redeemer's life, as He died on the Cross for you and me:

April 28

The Great Refusal


"They gave him wine to drink mingled with gall: and when he had tasted thereof, he would not drink" — Mat_27:34


The One Cup Jesus Refused to Drink
It was a kindly provision of the Jews to give an opiate to the condemned. They found their warrant in the page of the Old Testament. Anesthetics in these earlier days were, of course, very far from perfect. There was no method of mitigating pain save by some dulling or stupefying drug. And it was such a draught that was offered to the Lord when He reached the place appointed for His death. This was fittingly the ministry of women. There was a guild of ladies who charged themselves with that. They bought the ingredients and mingled them, and had them ready for the unhappy criminal. And no one who witnessed the scene ever forgot how, when the draught was handed to the Lord, He quietly and deliberately refused it. He took it, and He tasted it. He was always courteous to the kind. He recognised the compassion that inspired it, and to the compassionate He was ever gracious. Then, having tasted it, and having thanked them, He quite deliberately returned the cup. It was the one cup which He refused to drink. Can we understand that swift declination? Can we fathom the reasons of refusal? The answer brings us to the heart of things.


Had He Drunk It He Would Have Marred the Crowning Service of His Life
One thinks, for instance, how the drinking of that draught would have marred the crowning service of His life. The Cross was the crowning service of His life. There is a way of thinking of the death of Jesus as if it were the tragic end of a high story. There are those who take it as the pitiable opposite of all the rich and popular activities of Galilee. But never, through the whole New Testament, is there even a hint of such a view as that—the Cross is the crowning service of His life. Christ deliberately chose that by which He was to be remembered. It was the hour when everything burst into a flame. It gathered up into one splendid action all the redeeming labours of His days. All He had come to do—all He had lived for—all His work as prophet, priest, teacher and king—was crowned in the last service of the Cross. Now, when a man is facing noble service, does he drug his faculties with opiates? Does the surgeon take a drug before the operation? Does the captain do it when the storm is threatening? For such hours, the crowning hours of service, when tremendous demands are going to be imposed, a man must be at his clearest and his best. Had His work been over, our Lord might have drunk that draught. He might have argued that nothing mattered now. That swift refusal, as with a flash of light, reveals the Master's outlook on His death. It was no tragic and pitiable end, to be got through with the minimum of suffering. It was a service to be wrought with His whole being.
Akin to that is the great thought that our blessed Lord died of His own will. "No man taketh it [my life] from me, but I lay it down of myself" (Joh_10:18). No beast in the sacrificial rites of Judaism ever died of its own will. It was dragged to the altar, struggling and reluctant. It died because other hands were gripping it. And the infinite value of the death of Jesus lay in its being a voluntary sacrifice—I come to do Thy will, O God. Now the singular power of opiates is this, that they interfere with the freedom of the will. Under their influence we are no longer free. We pass under the dominance of others. We are not controlled nor directed from within when the drug has poured its poison through the veins; we are controlled and directed from without. No longer are we self-determined, nor do we act because we will to act. We have yielded up the mastery of life; we have rendered our personality to others. And that was the one thing our Master could not do if, in the perfect freedom of His love, He was to lay His life down of Himself. So He took the cup, and tasted it, for He was always courteous to the kindly—and then, deliberately, He refused it.


How Much We Would Have Lost Had He Drunk the Cup
One thinks again how much we should have lost had the Lord drunk of that stupefying draught. We should have lost some of the sweetest passages of Scripture. We should never have heard that wonderful prayer for pardon, "Father, forgive them; they know not what they do." We should never have known His filial care for Mary, "Woman, behold thy son." We should never have had the ringing, glad assurance wherewith He cried in a loud voice, "It is finished"—the greatest word in the whole of human history. What multitudes have been rescued from despair by the story of the penitent thief, saved and blessed at the eleventh hour, when it seemed too late even for heaven's mercy? Yet of that penitent thief we never should have heard, nor of his cry, nor of the Lord's "Today shalt thou be with me in paradise," had He drunk of that stupefying drug. A poorer Bible and a poorer Christendom—was our Lord conscious of all that? I do not know; the Scripture does not tell us. No man can fathom the consciousness of Jesus. I only know we should have lost forever the seven words upon the Cross, had He not refused to drink the offered draught.


He Wanted to be Our Brother in Suffering
One wonders, too, if in that great refusal our Lord was not thinking of His own. For in spite of all the advances of our knowledge, suffering is still terribly real. There was a friend of my boyhood's home who suffered from an excruciating trouble. He was a genuinely Christian man, who had been active in the service of the Kingdom. And when friends stooped down to catch what he was whispering as he lay at last upon his bed of agony, what they heard was, "He suffered more for me." Was our Lord thinking of that follower when He came to Golgotha that day? Did He resolve that He would be a Brother, down to the very depths of human agony? It would be so like Him if that were in His heart when—facing the untold agony of Calvary—He refused to drink the wine mingled with gall.


Yes, if God can die for you, then He can and will do all things for you because He loves you that much!
Thank you my God for Your love and grace and Your great sacrifice that allows me to come to you. Thank you my Lord for your love.

Thursday April 28

Good morning,
Our lives are such short spans of time, yet that is all we have and all we know.  In our short three score and ten we cram in all we can.  We grow, we learn, we strive, we achieve, we rest, we dream, we hope, we grow old, we die.
We are frail, we are so fragile in all ways and yet we believe we can be immune, immortal.  Such futility.


Our Lord Christ died on the holy cross for us, so that it does not stop at death and nothing is futility.  We strive for a higher reason besides our own greed.  
But at what price? 
God Himself died for you and me...God so loved you and me that He gave up His life for you and me, died a most horrible death known at His time to take away your sins and my many sins.


Praise God.  Today's meditation by George H. Morrison addresses the final moments of our Redeemer's life, as He died on the Cross for you and me:

April 28

The Great Refusal


"They gave him wine to drink mingled with gall: and when he had tasted thereof, he would not drink" — Mat_27:34


The One Cup Jesus Refused to Drink
It was a kindly provision of the Jews to give an opiate to the condemned. They found their warrant in the page of the Old Testament. Anesthetics in these earlier days were, of course, very far from perfect. There was no method of mitigating pain save by some dulling or stupefying drug. And it was such a draught that was offered to the Lord when He reached the place appointed for His death. This was fittingly the ministry of women. There was a guild of ladies who charged themselves with that. They bought the ingredients and mingled them, and had them ready for the unhappy criminal. And no one who witnessed the scene ever forgot how, when the draught was handed to the Lord, He quietly and deliberately refused it. He took it, and He tasted it. He was always courteous to the kind. He recognised the compassion that inspired it, and to the compassionate He was ever gracious. Then, having tasted it, and having thanked them, He quite deliberately returned the cup. It was the one cup which He refused to drink. Can we understand that swift declination? Can we fathom the reasons of refusal? The answer brings us to the heart of things.


Had He Drunk It He Would Have Marred the Crowning Service of His Life
One thinks, for instance, how the drinking of that draught would have marred the crowning service of His life. The Cross was the crowning service of His life. There is a way of thinking of the death of Jesus as if it were the tragic end of a high story. There are those who take it as the pitiable opposite of all the rich and popular activities of Galilee. But never, through the whole New Testament, is there even a hint of such a view as that—the Cross is the crowning service of His life. Christ deliberately chose that by which He was to be remembered. It was the hour when everything burst into a flame. It gathered up into one splendid action all the redeeming labours of His days. All He had come to do—all He had lived for—all His work as prophet, priest, teacher and king—was crowned in the last service of the Cross. Now, when a man is facing noble service, does he drug his faculties with opiates? Does the surgeon take a drug before the operation? Does the captain do it when the storm is threatening? For such hours, the crowning hours of service, when tremendous demands are going to be imposed, a man must be at his clearest and his best. Had His work been over, our Lord might have drunk that draught. He might have argued that nothing mattered now. That swift refusal, as with a flash of light, reveals the Master's outlook on His death. It was no tragic and pitiable end, to be got through with the minimum of suffering. It was a service to be wrought with His whole being.
Akin to that is the great thought that our blessed Lord died of His own will. "No man taketh it [my life] from me, but I lay it down of myself" (Joh_10:18). No beast in the sacrificial rites of Judaism ever died of its own will. It was dragged to the altar, struggling and reluctant. It died because other hands were gripping it. And the infinite value of the death of Jesus lay in its being a voluntary sacrifice—I come to do Thy will, O God. Now the singular power of opiates is this, that they interfere with the freedom of the will. Under their influence we are no longer free. We pass under the dominance of others. We are not controlled nor directed from within when the drug has poured its poison through the veins; we are controlled and directed from without. No longer are we self-determined, nor do we act because we will to act. We have yielded up the mastery of life; we have rendered our personality to others. And that was the one thing our Master could not do if, in the perfect freedom of His love, He was to lay His life down of Himself. So He took the cup, and tasted it, for He was always courteous to the kindly—and then, deliberately, He refused it.


How Much We Would Have Lost Had He Drunk the Cup
One thinks again how much we should have lost had the Lord drunk of that stupefying draught. We should have lost some of the sweetest passages of Scripture. We should never have heard that wonderful prayer for pardon, "Father, forgive them; they know not what they do." We should never have known His filial care for Mary, "Woman, behold thy son." We should never have had the ringing, glad assurance wherewith He cried in a loud voice, "It is finished"—the greatest word in the whole of human history. What multitudes have been rescued from despair by the story of the penitent thief, saved and blessed at the eleventh hour, when it seemed too late even for heaven's mercy? Yet of that penitent thief we never should have heard, nor of his cry, nor of the Lord's "Today shalt thou be with me in paradise," had He drunk of that stupefying drug. A poorer Bible and a poorer Christendom—was our Lord conscious of all that? I do not know; the Scripture does not tell us. No man can fathom the consciousness of Jesus. I only know we should have lost forever the seven words upon the Cross, had He not refused to drink the offered draught.


He Wanted to be Our Brother in Suffering
One wonders, too, if in that great refusal our Lord was not thinking of His own. For in spite of all the advances of our knowledge, suffering is still terribly real. There was a friend of my boyhood's home who suffered from an excruciating trouble. He was a genuinely Christian man, who had been active in the service of the Kingdom. And when friends stooped down to catch what he was whispering as he lay at last upon his bed of agony, what they heard was, "He suffered more for me." Was our Lord thinking of that follower when He came to Golgotha that day? Did He resolve that He would be a Brother, down to the very depths of human agony? It would be so like Him if that were in His heart when—facing the untold agony of Calvary—He refused to drink the wine mingled with gall.


Yes, if God can die for you, then He can and will do all things for you because He loves you that much!
Thank you my God for Your love and grace and Your great sacrifice that allows me to come to you. Thank you my Lord for your love.

Wednesday April 28

Good morning,
Dear friend, dear confidant.  April fades away fast.  Just yesterday we were talking of the winter storms and now we are flooded with news of tornadoes and spring flooding, heat waves and thunderstorms.  I really do appreciate the cycle of the seasons, the cycle of human events.  May begins Sunday and we are off to summer.  But in all this, what do we want really?  What are we striving for as we toil and suffer daily?  What are your true wishes?


I want God's love to fill me to overflowing and His grace to come out of my every pore, fill every cell.  I want to know God in all His mercy and His loving grace.  All else is secondary - wealth, health, love, peace, knowledge, power, fame and influence - all these things are nothing compared to being loved and knowing God. 


I am far from my quest.  I pray for God to catch me, to take me, to envelope me and fill me... God I submit myself to you, I surrender all.  I give up all to Your Grace, Love and Will.  


I worship you and am in loving awe and fear of Your anger and disappointment.  I want to serve You and be Your child.  


That's what I want.
Amen

Tuesday April 26

Tuesday, the get it done day, the day when we are, well too far from the weekend, just getting past Monday, the dreaded Monday, and even hump day is not until tomorrow... Tuesday, the day to get things done.


Today, why don't you just really yield and accept Jesus as your Savior, Redeemer, your God and Brother?  Today is a good day to be Saved and to become a child of God.


Here are George H. Morrison's thoughts on the topic:



April 26


Which Is Your Answer?


What shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ?— Mat_27:22


Jesus Is Unavoidable
One possible answer to this question is: I shall have nothing to do with Him at all. I shall ignore Him and pay no heed to Him. If He confronts me when I go to church, I shall deliberately avoid the church. If He steals on me when I am quite alone, I shall do my best never to be alone. If He meets me in certain companies, so that I am very conscious of His presence, I shall be careful to choose my company elsewhere. I shall bar every window against Him. Against His coming I shall bolt my doors. I shall give injunctions to my lodgekeeper that He is never to have access to my avenue. But the extraordinary thing about the Lord is (and there are thousands who can testify to this) that to get rid of Him is utterly impossible. He is inevitable. He is unavoidable. Just because He is love, He laughs at locksmiths. As on the evening of the resurrection day, when the doors are shut, comes Jesus. Just when a man thinks that he is safe, secure from the intrusions of the Lord, He is there, within the circuit of the life, closer than breathing, nearer than hands or feet.


Indecisions That Are Not Intellectual but Are Moral
Another common answer to this question is: Really I can't make up my mind. Folk are in perplexity today, and therefore halting between two opinions. Now I want to say, gently but quite firmly, that is often a dishonest answer. The difficulty is not in making up the mind. The difficulty is in making up the will. There are indecisions that are not intellectual: they are moral; they are based on character; they strike their roots into some secret sin. The real problem is not making up; the real problem is giving up. We are all tempted to cloak our moral weakness in the garb of intellectual perplexity. But even when the answer is entirely honest, there is one thing that should never be forgotten, and that is the great fact of life that not to decide is to decide against. A man is travelling in a railway train. Shall he get out at such and such a station? He vacillates; halts between two opinions; really he can't make up his mind. Meantime the train has drawn up at the station, and is off again thundering through the dark—and the man has decided against alighting there, just because he could not make his mind up. Few people calmly and deliberately decide against the Lord. But multitudes do it who never thought to do it, by the easy way of not deciding. And while I would rush nobody's decision (just as I would not let anyone rush mine), a wise man will accept his universe, and never ignore the great facts of life.


Postponed Decisions May Never Be Made
Another common answer to this question is: I shall accept Him by and by. I have no intention of dying out of Christ; but meantime I want to have my liberty. Life is sweet; it is a thrilling world; I want the colour and music for a little. Leave me the gold and glory of the morning, and I shall settle matters in the afternoon. I trust my readers will not be vexed with me if I call that the meanest of all answers: nobody ever likes to be thought mean. Who that had a loved one on a sickbed would bring that loved one a bunch of withered flowers? And yet many seem to be perfectly content in the thought of offering Christ a withered heart—and He has loved us with a love that is magnificent, and has died for us upon the cross, and is the finest Comrade in the world. It is true that there is always hope: a man may be saved at the eleventh hour. "Betwixt the stirrup and the ground, I mercy sought and mercy found." My fear is not that Christ will mock the prayer that is offered at the eleventh hour. It is that when the eleventh hour comes a man may have quite lost the power to pray. There are things that we can do at one-and-twenty that are almost impossible at sixty. At one-and-twenty one may be a footballer; very rare are the footballers of sixty. And to surrender oneself to the Lord Jesus Christ is a far more intense activity than football. Perhaps that is why at sixty it is rare.


Christ Will Not Accept Any Place in Your Heart but the First Place
Another answer to this greatest of all questions is the frequent one: I shall compromise. I shall give Him a certain place within my heart, so far as other interests will permit. I have no intention of being out and out; I am not going to carry my heart upon my sleeve. I shall do my duty and lead a decent life, and come to church, and be present at communion. But the strange thing that the meek and lowly Saviour, who was content with a manger and a cottage, is not content with that. Offer Him a place in your life, and the extraordinary thing is that He refuses it. His peace is never won on such conditions; His joy is never a factor in experience. As Henry Drummond put it once, "Gentlemen, keep Christ in His own place—but remember that His place is the first." "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness."


The Decision Must Be Made Here and Now
There is perhaps only one other answer. It is: I accept Him now. Here and now I yield myself to Him, for that is my reasonable service. Paul did that, going to Damascus, and it changed the universe for him. Augustine did that, in the quiet garden, and it freed him from the tyranny of vice. There are millions everywhere, right across the world, who, giving that instant answer to the question, have found life and liberty and power. My prayer is that these words of mine may lead to such immediate decision.
 "There is a tide in the affairs of men which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune." "Seek ye the Lord while He may be found. Call ye upon Him while He is near." He will never be nearer than just now.


Dear friend, just ask Jesus to come into your heart, your life, and save your soul.  That's all you have to do, just ask.
Nothing more... all else will be done for you after YOU decide for Christ.


God bless you today and always.

Monday April 25

Good morning dearest friends in Christ,
I am astounded, awed, afraid that I am not always worthy of God's love, that perfect gift from our Heavenly Father.  There are days I wonder how I can go on, but then I remember who my real Father is and I am filled with Hope.  His immaculate, perfect love makes all things possible.  
I am too small a mind to understand His mysteries.  It's not a cop out, not an excuse... how can I understand the Infinite.  When we consider all the Universe we know of even today, and I believe we will discover more and more each new day, I sometimes am overwhelmed that the God who created all this vast universe, with its billions of galaxies, then there are billions of stars in our own galaxy, and then we are but a small planet in our solar system... and I am not even a speck of dust on this planet... wonder of wonders that God can hear me, care for me, and love me... yet I know He does.  Praise God.


Today's mediation by Bob Hoekstra:



April 25


A Fragrance of Christ to God


"Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge . . . For we are to God the fragrance of Christ."  (2Co_2:14-15)


In addition to the characteristic of triumphant living, God also wants to mark our lives with the fragrance of Christ. "Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge." 
Just as there are physical fragrances that can be noticed by our physical senses, there are also spiritual fragrances that can impact us spiritually. If a person partakes of food that is heavily seasoned with garlic, others will notice the fragrance of garlic. If a person consistently presses on to know the Lord, others will be impacted by the "fragrance of His knowledge." This is described as the "fragrance of Christ." This is that spiritual aroma that wafts forth from the lives of those who are getting to know the Lord. It is a validating reality that the Lord Jesus Christ is dwelling in their lives and is being evidenced through their lives. 


As we are getting to know the Lord more and more, this spiritual aroma of Christ is even impacting God Himself. "For we are to God the fragrance of Christ." Yes, God is the first one who is impacted by this Christlike fragrance. "For we are to God the fragrance of Christ ." 


Our ministry and testimony is always primarily unto the Lord. We who believe in Jesus Christ are called to be "proving what is acceptable to the Lord" (Eph_5:10). We are not here on earth to please ourselves. "Do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a servant of Christ" (Gal_1:10). We are here to please our God. "Brethren, we urge and exhort in the Lord Jesus that you should abound more and more, just as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God" (1Th_4:1). 


What ultimately pleases our heavenly Father is His beloved Son. When the Father looked down from heaven at the baptism of His Son, He exclaimed, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" (Mat_3:17). When our Father looks down today upon our lives, He wants to enjoy the fragrance of His Son emanating forth from our lives. "For we are to God the fragrance of Christ."


Heavenly Father, I long to bless You by the fragrance of Christ through my life. I am sorry that the stench of selfish flesh is what often emanates from me. Lord, help me to get to know You more and more, so that the knowledge of You can produce the aroma of Christ in and through me, in Jesus name, Amen.


May the love of God fill you, may the Holy Spirit overflow from your life so that you please God each moment. 
Have a blessed day.

Saturday April 23

Good morning,
This day, the day after His death, His incredible self sacrifice and giving of His Holy Blood for our sins, our Lord is still in the grave.  I'll leave it to the theologians and philosophers to debate about Jesus's spirit, and all the rest.  The Bible states that when Mary comes tomorrow morning, the angels are there and tell her that Jesus is not there, but among the living.  Today we still grieve, today we are thoughtful and meditative, today we consider all the He gave for us.


The hardest thing for me is to forgive those who have hurt and harmed us or my loved ones.  It is so hard to let go and let God's love wash over me.  Consider today's mediations:



April 23


On Making Allowances


The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak— Mat_26:41


To Forgive When Hurt Is Hard
There are times when it is very hard to make allowances for other people. To forgive them seems a counsel of perfection. Even if we do forgive we are haunted by a lingering resentment. Gusts of bitterness invade the soul when we remember how deeply we were wronged. To trust again when we have been deceived, with the simple and sweet trust of long ago, seems a victory beyond our powers. Love may abide through bitterest disappointment, for love is strong as death. But the love which has been hideously wronged is seldom quiet as a resting place. Flashes of suspicion visit it; harsh thoughts come surging to the surface; memories, sharp and anguished, break their blighting way into the soul. To make allowance when someone dear has failed us, to forget judgment in a great compassion, to go on trusting hopefully, after the shock of discovered infidelity, that, which falls to the lot of many people, though they very seldom speak about it, is one of the hardest tasks in human life.


Jesus Substitutes Mercy for Resentment
Now it was such a task that met our Saviour in the Garden of Gethsemane. The hearts on whose fidelity He counted in one blinding flash were found to be unfaithful. Who could have wondered if our blessed Lord had turned from these three men in stern revulsion? Who could have wondered if His instant thought had been that He never could trust them any more? In swift and righteous condemnation might He not have judged them unworthy of His love, and so barred them from His heart forever? That is the first swift impulse, let me say, of every woman who has been deeply wronged. She says (little knowing what she says) I may forgive, but I never can forget. And the beautiful thing is that our Master, pierced to the quick by dear ones' infidelity, rose to a loftier attitude than that. Judgment was submerged in pity. Compassion took the place of condemnation. The love that had been so terribly wronged wove the garment of mercy round the sinners. And so doing it saved their souls alive and led them onward to that brighter morrow, when infidelities were all to be redeemed.


It Would Have Been Human to Be Done with Them, But It Was Heavenly to Continue Trusting Them
To understand that magnificence of attitude ponder a moment on the sleep of these disciples. It was not a venial fault of drowsiness; it was a heinous sin of infidelity. It is always a very grave offence if a sentry be found sleeping at his post. Often the penalty for that is death. And these men were not only there in comradeship; they were sentries at the post of duty; they were there to watch as well as to keep awake. I shall not say that had they watched they might have saved the Lord, for it was not the will of God that He be saved. But would not Jesus crave to be forewarned that He might have a last quiet moment with His Father. And He never got it—the armed rabble broke on Him, suddenly, with shouting and with torches, because these sentries were sleeping at their posts. A disloyal soldier is like a disloyal friend—it is supremely difficult to make allowance for him. The heart that has been wronged by infidelity haunts the margins of despairing bitterness. Yet Jesus, towards His disloyal soldiers, who were also His weak disciples, maintained a pitying love that was redemptive. It would have been easy to have done with them. It was very hard to trust them still. To condemn them would have been entirely natural. To keep them still within His heart was heavenly. So our Saviour points the better way for all who find their Garden of Gethsemane in the disloyalties of someone who is dear.


Their Lack of Vigilance Was a Sign of lngratitude
And then, mingling with disloyalty, think of the ingratitude involved. "What, could ye not watch with Me?" For a moment put the accent upon Me. Have not I been the best of friends to you? Have not I toiled for you and prayed for you? Have not I watched many an hour for you? Have not I lavished the riches of My love on you? All that they owed to Him in love and sacrifice, and in the uplift of unrecorded intimacies, was forgotten in that disloyalty of sleep. That is what makes infidelity so bitter. At the heart of it lies rank ingratitude. All the patient ministries of years are forgotten because the flesh is weak. And no one could have blamed our blessed Lord if, in the sudden flaming of disgust, He had torn these disciples from His breast.


He Remembered It Was Past Midnight
But He did not do that, however terrible the provocation. The others might forget, but He remembered. He remembered it was long past midnight; He remembered the awful strain of the past days; He remembered the sorrow that consumed them, and their burden of unintelligible mystery. And the condemning wrath that might have ruined them was swallowed up in an infinite compassion—the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. Never was there kindlier allowance. It was the consummate handling of heaven. It issued not in tragedy, but in the richer loyalties of resurrection days. 


So may like grace be given to all in perplexity through infidelites, that they may find a budding morrow in midnight.


It is wonderful to know a God who forgives, who loves, and who continues to bless us despite our weaknesses and shortcomings.  I hope you are filled with the Holy Spirit and live today for God.

Friday April 22

Good Friday, THE MOST IMPORTANT DAY in the history of the world... the day Christ died on the cross for mankind.
This is the day that the price was paid, the day sins were washed away, the day the angel of death is conquered.
More importantly, this is the day when Grace comes to us instead of a book of strict laws.  Grace and true Love flow from Christ so that we may have access and connect to the Love of God.  
Thank you Jesus my Lord and Savior for your Love and sacrifice.


So what?  
This day brings us the whole pantheon of God's gifts, starting with His Love and Grace.  This Grace is the undeserved benevolent kindness and gift that allows us to be filled with God's love.


Bob Hoekstra says it better in today's meditations:


April 22


Characteristics of Living by Grace


"Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant."  (2Corinthians 3:5-6)


When we live by the new covenant of grace, God impacts our lives. He makes us sufficient by sharing His sufficiency with us. "Our sufficiency is from God, who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant." This impact is from His grace at work on us, in us, and through us. This process produces spiritual characteristics in our lives. A brief reflection upon the workings of God's grace will provide a helpful context as we begin to consider these characteristics. 


The grace of God is brought to us through the Lord Jesus Christ. "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us . . . full of grace and truth" (Joh_1:14). When Jesus came to earth as God's incarnate word to man, He came overflowing with the grace of God. This abundance of grace in Christ is to be our ongoing spiritual provision for living the Christian life. "And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for [upon] grace" (Joh_1:16). One work of God's grace built upon another work of His grace is to mark our pilgrimage day by day. 
This constantly-available grace of God is able to justify and sanctify lives. "And now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance" (Act_20:32). 
God's grace, held forth by His word, offers us new birth by grace. When we believe on the Lord Jesus, we are justified (declared not guilty, righteous in God's sight). Thereby, we obtain the spiritual inheritance of the children of God: "the word of His grace, which is able to . . . give you an inheritance." This same grace of God then becomes our heavenly resource for growing sanctification (that is, growing in godliness): "the word of His grace, which is able to build you up." 


Part of growing in godliness involves being set free from the dominating influence of sin in our lives. God's grace provides this liberating reality. "For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace" (Romans 6:14). As we learn to live by God's grace, instead of by our own best performance, the grace of God is working deep within us, bringing spiritual stability to our inner man. "It is good that the heart be established by grace" (Heb_13:9). 
This working of God's grace in us marks us with distinctive spiritual characteristics, which will be examined in the passages of scripture that lie ahead.


"Lord God of abounding grace, give me spiritual eyes to see and a humble heart to receive all the ways You want to mark my life by Your grace, in Jesus name, Amen."

Thursday April 21

Good morning to you,
I've been sharing with you meditations I have found and agree with... believe in, hope in, and have faith in.


You can have them also, along with a multitude of Bible in various translations, commentaries by the greatest Biblical minds, and other aids to your Bible study.  You can have it all for FREE... go to
www.e-sword.net
and download it all, for free.  
There are many other resources you can download also for a slight price if you so want.  Try it out, you will love the blessings it brings.


Well, now.  Here we are at Easter weekend.  It's the latest in April I ever remember it being.  So what.  It's the all time most important weekend of all.  
To me Easter is THE Holiest season.  Yes, Christmas celebrates our Lord coming to earth.  But He could have chosen to live an exemplary life, teach His disciples how to achieve a path and then gone the natural path back to Heaven.  He could have, but He didn't.  He DIED ON THE CROSS FOR YOU AND ME as a redemptive act of Love.  He absorbed all of my sins and your sins and those of all humans so that we can finally have access, an audience as needed, as wanted, any time, any where, any how with GOD.  Then He arose, came back to teach His disciples more for 40 days and then He return to Heaven in a cloud, rising up before the disciples eyes back to His home, our home, to Heaven.  
Of course, the Pentecost is when He sends the Holy Spirit to us all, which is another day's thoughts... but Easter, Oh Thank You Heavenly Father, my Lord, my God, my Redeemer...
Thank you for dying on the sacred cross for my sins, thank you for loving me and saving me from all my weaknesses, for your grace that keeps me in faith and hope. 
Thank you Jesus, my Lord and my Redeemer.

Wednesday April 20

Hi, How are you doing?  Struggling a bit?  Weary and worried?  Can't seem to get a break?  And of course, how come the other guy is so successful and I'm not?


Yeah, me too.  BUT:


Those of us who have Jesus have it all.  Really.  And all we have to do is Believe, Accept, Achieve.  Consider today's meditation by James Ryle:



April 20


One Way Jesus on a Two Way Street


"Give, and it shall be given to you" (Luke 6:38).


It is one of the many remarkable features of following Jesus, that you cannot give without receiving back even more than you gave. The other side is also true — you cannot receive without giving. It's a two-way street that we walk with the One Way Jesus.
Jesus is only going one way — but it is in every direction. He is building a kingdom, and has invited each of us to become a part of what He is doing. We become a part by giving whatever He has entrusted to us.
You cannot teach without being taught, and you cannot be taught without teaching others. You cannot lead without being a follower; and you cannot follow without being led. If you will look for opportunities to bless someone else, you yourself will be blessed. Love, and you will be loved. Serve, and you will be served. Smile, and the world will smile with you. Sing, and folks will.....OK, they will probably ask you to keep that to yourself! At least for most of us, anyway.
So, instead of going through life as a taker, grabbing desperately at everything you can get your hands on, and then storing it up in secured bins of plenty — open the flood gates of generosity and start being a giver. The truth be told, you cannot live until you give.
Give your heart to Christ and He will fill it with love. Give your mind to Christ, and He will fill it with truth. Give your dreams to Christ, and He will fill them with heavenly vision and power. Give your hands to Christ, and He will fill them with service; labor that is filled with laughter and significance. Give your time to Christ, and will be redeem it; making you timely in every word and deed.
If you will walk with One Way Jesus on this Two Way Street, everything in and about your life will abound with multiplied blessing. 
Solomon said, "A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed" (Proverbs 11:25).


Take the Lord at His word and you will see that He is true — "Give, and it shall be given unto you."


May you have a great, blessed day!

Tuesday April 19

Good morning to you.
We approach the most important day of the year, the celebration of Easter, the celebration of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus from the grave to Eternal Glory with God the Father.  
Other religions have gods and prophets, philosophies have truths and some even believe, primitives have spirits... you and I can have access to the Living, Holy, Almighty God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit...all because of Good Friday and Easter..
And, think of what that means... you can have it all.  All answers, all things, all that your heart dreams and wants... all because of Easter.


Consider today's meditation by Charles Spurgeon:

April 19


Morning
“Behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom.”
- Mat_27:51


No mean miracle was wrought in the rending of so strong and thick a veil; but it was not intended merely as a display of power-many lessons were herein taught us. The old law of ordinances was put away, and like a worn-out vesture, rent and laid aside. When Jesus died, the sacrifices were all finished, because all fulfilled in him, and therefore the place of their presentation was marked with an evident token of decay. 
That rent also revealed all the hidden things of the old dispensation: the mercy-seat could now be seen, and the glory of God gleamed forth above it. By the death of our Lord Jesus we have a clear revelation of God, for he was “not as Moses, who put a veil over his face.” 
Life and immortality are now brought to light, and things which have been hidden since the foundation of the world are manifest in him. The annual ceremony of atonement was thus abolished. The atoning blood which was once every year sprinkled within the veil, was now offered once for all by the great High Priest, and therefore the place of the symbolical rite was broken up. No blood of bullocks or of lambs is needed now, for Jesus has entered within the veil with his own blood. 
Hence access to God is now permitted, and is the privilege of every believer in Christ Jesus. There is no small space laid open through which we may peer at the mercy-seat, but the rent reaches from the top to the bottom. We may come with boldness to the throne of the heavenly grace. Shall we err if we say that the opening of the Holy of Holies in this marvelous manner by our Lord’s expiring cry was the type of the opening of the gates of paradise to all the saints by virtue of the Passion? 
Our bleeding Lord hath the key of heaven; he openeth and no man shutteth; let us enter in with him into the heavenly places, and sit with him there till our common enemies shall be made his footstool. 


and of course this opening leads us to God who gives us all we really need and could want through Jesus and the Holy Spirit.  Consider the Gifts God gives you: (From Galatians:)

Gal 5:22  But the fruit of the Spirit is: love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith, 

Gal 5:23  meekness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 

Gal 5:24  But those belonging to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and lusts. 

Gal 5:25  If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. 

Have a Spirit filled and blessed day.

Monday April 18

Another week.  Another Monday.  Life's rhythms and cycles goes on. From the smallest events to the grand scale of life in the vast universe. For many today is Tax Day in the United States.  Millions will rush to file and get there paperwork in.  Millions more will not even file and challenge the government to find them.  So life goes on.  


But like a dripping spring in a cave can make the beautiful columns and formations over the millions of years, so life makes small and steady changes in our lives.  Eventually, we all die.  Eventually we have to ask the question "Is there more after life?"  
Faith is the quality of life that is really unique.  Truly, we humans have certain things that set us apart.  Faith is one of them.  


We have to have Faith in order to go on.  Faith is the great keeper.  Where does it come from....ah, the question of the ages.  For me, I believe Faith comes from God.  It is the connecting signal between God and mankind.  Faith is the gift, belief is the result.  


Consider today's meditation by Bob Hoekstra:



April 18


Fully Supplied through Knowing God


"Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue."  (2Pe_1:2-3)


Our lives are blessed whenever the Lord adds any of His blessings to our experience. Yet, there are times when we sense a need for God's blessings to be multiplied to us. Well, God desires to intensify His working toward us. "Grace and peace be multiplied to you." Drop after drop of refreshing water may encourage the thirsty soul. However, our hearts' true need may be for fountains of living water. God loves to pour forth in abundance. "I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly" (John 10:10).
 God's grace (His undeserved resource for living) is available in multiplied measures. God's peace (His heaven-sent spiritual tranquility) can be partaken of in magnified portions. 
The process for partaking of these multiplied provisions simply involves growing in knowing our Lord. "Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord." 


Another astounding truth about believers in Jesus Christ is that we have already been given everything needed for abundant Christian living: "His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness." This is not to say that we are aware of what is ours, or that we are experiencing all that is ours. Nonetheless, God has already given us every spiritual provision needed to live as He desires ("all things that pertain to life") and to grow in Christlikeness as He wills ("all things that pertain to . . . godliness"). 
The process for accessing these comprehensive resources also involves getting to know the Lord better: "His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him," 


It is by grace that we initially come to know the Lord. As we get to know Him better, grace is then multiplied into our lives. When we first met the Lord, He gave us everything that we needed to live as He intended. As we grow in knowing Him, we access for living all that He has already given to us in Christ.


Dear Lord of abundant blessings, I praise You for Your bountiful grace. So frequently I underestimate Your goodness to me. What a staggering thought that You have already given me in Christ all that I need for a godly life. O Lord, I long to grow in knowing You, that all of these heavenly realities might be manifested in my life, for Your glory and honor, Amen.


I pray that you will be abundantly blessed, that you will have Faith and God's loving Grace fill all of you and your loved one.  
Praise God!

Sunday April 17

Praise God from Whom all things flow!  
It seems amazing the overall congruence of most religions.  Joseph Campbell does a insightful analysis in several of his books.  Most religions accept the reality of a god.  Most accept that we humans are not the same as god.  Most accept that in many ways what we humans have come from a god.  Most pray to their god or gods.  Communication and connection is sought from our lowly human state with the perfect state of gods.  
I humbly and adamantly propose that you and I should seek and worship the One True God of Abraham, Issac, Jacob, David, Daniel, Elijah, Micah and all the Apostles... the God proclaimed by His Son Jesus.  Even the Muslims profess this God as the One True God.  Which combined form the largest block of belief among humans.  
However,
in today's meditation by F.B. Meyer... it seems to me that if you believe you are among the chosen ones, the blessed ones.  I pray that if you read this and feel a movement, a stirring inside of you to seek Jesus, you are among the blessed...
So, accept Jesus right now, ask the Holy Spirit to baptize you with His presence and Love.  
That's it, nothing more.  From that moment on, you are a part of God's family.  Of course there is a universe of things beyond that step, but overall, you are loved, protected, guided, blessed, and kept on the path that leads to you and God walking together one day.  
How great is that!
I pray that you are one of the called.  Consider today's meditation:



April 17


Spiritual Insight for Knowing the Lord


 "Making mention of you in my prayers: that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him."  (Eph_1:16-17)


This new covenant of grace by which we relate to God is designed to bring us a growing, intimate knowledge of our Lord. However, this growing in knowing God requires that He reveals Himself to us. This is why Paul prayed for other believers to this end: "Making mention of you in my prayers: that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him." 


In order to increase in the knowledge of God, one must be given heaven-sent spiritual insight: "that . . . God . . . may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation." God cannot be seen by natural sight. "Who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see" (1 Timothy 6:16). 


God cannot be known by natural wisdom. "The world through wisdom did not know God" (1Co_1:21). The things of God must be revealed to us by the Lord. "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him. But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God" (1Co_2:9-10). 


Jesus rejoiced in the divine wisdom of this plan. "In that hour Jesus rejoiced in the Spirit and said, 'I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them to babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight'" (Luk_10:21). Jesus also encouraged those who humbly received God-given insight into spiritual realities. "And Simon Peter answered and said, 'You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.' Jesus answered and said to him, 'Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven'" (Mat_16:16-17). 


Jesus taught His followers to rely upon the teaching, revealing ministry of the Holy Spirit to know the things of God. "However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth . . . He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you" (Joh_16:13-14).


Dear Lord, I long to know You more and more. I humbly confess that I need You revealing Yourself to me. As I prayerfully read and study Your holy word, I pray that You would give to me the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of You, Amen.


God bless you and keep you each moment.