I Cannot but Rejoice!

Sometimes a light surprises,
The Christian while he sings
It is the Lord who rises,
With healing in His wings
When comforts are declining,
He grants the soul again
A season of clear shining,
To cheer it after rain

In holy contemplation,
We sweetly then pursue
The theme of God's salvation,
And find it ever new
Set free from present sorrow,
We cheerfully can say
Let the unknown tomorrow,
Bring with it what it may

Tomorrow can bring us nothing,
But He will bear us through
Who gives the lilies clothing,
Will clothe His people too
Beneath the spreading heavens,
No creature but is fed
And He who feeds the ravens,
Will give His children bread

Though vine nor fig-tree neither,
Their wonted fruit should bear
Though all the fields should wither,
or flocks or herds be there
Yet God the same abiding,
His praise shall tune my voice
For while in Him confiding,
I cannot but rejoice!

William Cowper (1731-1800)

True Worship is by Faith

"Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image or likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is in earth below. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them."

The second commandment that God gave is closely connected with the first. Since we are told not to have any other gods, we are commanded not to make or submit to anything that could give the appearance of a god.

True worship is by faith and not by sight!

Serve Him!

Have a good day!
Love,
Dad

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2 Samuel 22:1-51
(1) And David spoke unto the LORD the words of this song in the day that the LORD had delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies, and out of the hand of Saul:
(2) And he said, The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer;
(3) The God of my rock; in him will I trust: he is my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge, my savior; thou savest me from violence.
(4) I will call on the LORD, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies.
(5) When the waves of death compassed me, the floods of ungodly men made me afraid;
(6) The sorrows of hell compassed me about; the snares of death prevented me;
(7) In my distress I called upon the LORD, and cried to my God: and he did hear my voice out of his temple, and my cry did enter into his ears.
(8) Then the earth shook and trembled; the foundations of heaven moved and shook, because he was wroth.
(9) There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured: coals were kindled by it.
(10) He bowed the heavens also, and came down; and darkness was under his feet.
(11) And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly: and he was seen upon the wings of the wind.
(12) And he made darkness pavilions round about him, dark waters, and thick clouds of the skies.
(13) Through the brightness before him were coals of fire kindled.
(14) The LORD thundered from heaven, and the most High uttered his voice.
(15) And he sent out arrows, and scattered them; lightning, and discomfited them.
(16) And the channels of the sea appeared, the foundations of the world were discovered, at the rebuking of the LORD, at the blast of the breath of his nostrils.
(17) He sent from above, he took me; he drew me out of many waters;
(18) He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from them that hated me: for they were too strong for me.
(19) They prevented me in the day of my calamity: but the LORD was my stay.
(20) He brought me forth also into a large place: he delivered me, because he delighted in me.
(21) The LORD rewarded me according to my righteousness: according to the cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed me.
(22) For I have kept the ways of the LORD, and have not wickedly departed from my God.
(23) For all his judgments were before me: and as for his statutes, I did not depart from them.
(24) I was also upright before him and have kept myself from mine iniquity.
(25) Therefore the LORD hath recompensed me according to my righteousness; according to my cleanness in his eye sight.
(26) With the merciful thou wilt show thyself merciful, and with the upright man thou wilt show thyself upright.
(27) With the pure thou wilt show thyself pure; and with the froward thou wilt show thyself unsavory.
(28) And the afflicted people thou wilt save: but thine eyes are upon the haughty, that thou mayest bring them down.
(29) For thou art my lamp, O LORD: and the LORD will lighten my darkness.
(30) For by thee I have run through a troop: by my God have I leaped over a wall.
(31) As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the LORD is tried: he is a buckler to all them that trust in him.
(32) For who is God, save the LORD? and who is a rock, save our God?
(33) God is my strength and power: and he maketh my way perfect.
(34) He maketh my feet like hinds' feet: and setteth me upon my high places.
(35) He teacheth my hands to war; so that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms.
(36) Thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation: and thy gentleness hath made me great.
(37) Thou hast enlarged my steps under me; so that my feet did not slip.
(38) I have pursued mine enemies, and destroyed them; and turned not again until I had consumed them.
(39) And I have consumed them, and wounded them, that they could not arise: yea, they are fallen under my feet.
(40) For thou hast girded me with strength to battle: them that rose up against me hast thou subdued under me.
(41) Thou hast also given me the necks of mine enemies, that I might destroy them that hate me.
(42) They looked, but there was none to save; even unto the LORD, but he answered them not.
(43) Then did I beat them as small as the dust of the earth, I did stamp them as the mire of the street, and did spread them abroad.
(44) Thou also hast delivered me from the strivings of my people, thou hast kept me to be head of the heathen: a people which I knew not shall serve me.
(45) Strangers shall submit themselves unto me: as soon as they hear, they shall be obedient unto me.
(46) Strangers shall fade away, and they shall be afraid out of their close places.
(47) The LORD liveth; and blessed be my rock; and exalted be the God of the rock of my salvation.
(48) It is God that avengeth me, and that bringeth down the people under me,
(49) And that bringeth me forth from mine enemies: thou also hast lifted me up on high above them that rose up against me: thou hast delivered me from the violent man.
(50) Therefore I will give thanks unto thee, O LORD, among the heathen, and I will sing praises unto thy name.
(51) He is the tower of salvation for his king: and showeth mercy to his anointed, unto David, and to his seed forevermore.

Our Single Desire

"To whom be glory for ever. Amen" --Romans 11:36

"To whom be glory for ever." This should be the single desire of the Christian. All other wishes must be subservient and tributary to this one. The Christian may wish for prosperity in his business, but only so far as it may help him to promote this--"To Him be glory for ever." He may desire to attain more gifts and more graces, but it should only be that "To Him may be glory for ever." You are not acting as you ought to do when you are moved by any other motive than a single eye to your Lord's glory. As a Christian, you are "of God, and through God," then live "to God." Let nothing ever set your heart beating so mightily as love to Him. Let this ambition fire your soul; be this the foundation of every enterprise upon which you enter, and this your sustaining motive whenever your zeal would grow chill; make God your only object. Depend upon it, where self begins sorrow begins; but if God be my supreme delight and only object,

"To me 'tis equal whether love ordain
My life or death--appoint me ease or pain."

Let your desire for God's glory be a growing desire. You blessed Him in your youth, do not be content with such praises as you gave Him then. Has God prospered you in business? Give Him more as He has given you more. Has God given you experience? Praise Him by stronger faith than you exercised at first. Does your knowledge grow? Then sing more sweetly. Do you enjoy happier times than you once had? Have you been restored from sickness, and has your sorrow been turned into peace and joy? Then give Him more music; put more coals and more sweet frankincense into the censer of your praise. Practically in your life give Him honour, putting the "Amen" to this doxology to your great and gracious Lord, by your own individual service and increasing holiness.

Charles Spurgeon Morning and Evening, November 17.

What is the object of your life?

The first four commandments deal with the relationship between man and God. The remaining six deal with relationships between men.

What is to be the object of our life?

"To give our all to the glory of God, to love Him with all our soul, mind, and strength, and to love one another as we love ourself."

Examine yourself!

Have a good day!
Love,
Dad

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My Lord, I did not choose You
For that could never be
My heart would still refuse You
Had You not chosen me
You took the sin that stained me
You cleansed me, made me new
Of old You have ordained me
That I should live in You

Chorus
Jesus, You have saved me
And taken all my sin, all my sins away
Jesus, You have called me
Before the world began, to glorify Your name
I was without hope and dead inside
But You chose to save my life

Unless Your grace had called me
And taught my darkened mind
The world would have enthralled me
To Your glories I’d be blind
My heart knows none above You
For Your rich grace I thirst
I know that if I love You
You must have loved me first

Jesus, You have saved me
And taken all my sin, all my sins away
Jesus, You have called me
Before the world began, to glorify Your name

Jesus, You have saved me
And taken all my sin, all my sins away
Jesus, You have called me
Before the world began, to glorify Your name
I was without hope and dead inside
But You chose to save
I was without hope and dead inside
But You chose to save my life

Lyrics by Josiah Conder (1836); Chorus and Music by Devon Kauflin
Looked Upon album by Sovereign Grace Music, 2008

Exercising Your Right

"Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost."
-John Quincy Adams (1767-1848; 6th US President, 1825-29; eldest son of John Adams, 2nd president)

"Democrats are the only reason to vote for Republicans."
-Will Rogers (1879-1935)

"If you have been voting for politicians who promise to give you goodies at someone else's expense, then you have no right to complain when they take your money and give it to someone else, including themselves."
-Thomas Sowell (1930-?; American writer and economist)

"In politics we presume that everyone who knows how to get votes knows how to administer a city or a state. When we are ill...we do not ask for the handsomest physician, or the most eloquent one."
-Plato (428BC-348BC; Ancient Greek Philosopher)

"Hell, I never vote for anybody, I always vote against."
-W.C. Fields (1880-1946; American Comic and Actor)

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Did you vote today?

Why worry?

"Your Father knoweth" (Luke 12:30)

Read Luke 12:13-34

Why do we worry so much? I know that we all live with a great deal of stress. We have families to feed, children to clothe, train and educate, and bills to pay. These are all things about which we are and should be concerned. I do not suggest that we should be careless and irresponsible. That would be contrary to the gospel of Christ. But I do say that we should not worry. Our concern for these things should not make us anxious, fretful and irritable.

Worrying is a fruitless, futile exercise. What did you ever get by worrying, except headaches and ulcers? We only worry about those things that are beyond our control. We worry about things that happened yesterday. We worry about what might happen tomorrow. We worry about what other people may say, or think, or do. We never worry about things that we can control. It is a futile, pointless thing to worry. Not one of us has ever accomplished a single thing by all of our worrying combined.

But what is more important, worrying is a very evil thing that dishonors our God. I speak to you who are believers, to you who seek the glory of God. Our worrying is sinful. It reveals a lack of faith. When I worry about something, it reveals that I do not trust the wisdom and goodness of God's providence. I only worry when I am discontent and dissatisfied with what God is doing for me, or because I do not truly trust him to do what is best. In other words, to worry is to murmur against the Lord my God!

Let us understand the words of our Lord and stop worrying. He is telling us that there is no need for any believer ever to worry. Our heavenly Father will provide for us everything that is needful and protect us from everything that is harmful. Let us not concern ourselves about the affairs of this world, but only about those things that concern the kingdom of God and his righteousness. He is saying, "Don't worry." Trust the Lord, "casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you" (I Peter 5:7)

Don Fortner Grace For Today for October 25.

The Omnipotence of One God

With the use of radar detectors, many often break the speed limits, but the beeping and lights alert the driver of speed checks ahead.

There are no detectors that protect people from breaking any law from the all-knowing God. He sees each and every action.

The first commandment tells us that we are not to have any other gods before Him.

He wants us to fully submit ourselves to Him. He is Lord!! Anyone or anything that has control of us, our thinking, and our very being is our God!

What or who is your God?

Have a good day!
Love,
Dad

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"I have purposed it, I will also do it" (Isaiah 46:11)

(Read also I Kings 18:21-40)

To declare, as many do, that God's plan has been frustrated by the entrance of sin into the world is to dethrone God. Some would have us to believe that God was taken by surprise when Adam sinned in the garden and that he is now trying to remedy and correct this unforeseen calamity in his creation. Such a notion is degrading to the character of God. It brings the Most High God down to the level of erring mortals. We are told that man is a free moral agent, that he is the determiner of his own destiny and that he has the power to resist God and hold the Almighty in check. Such a blasphemous notion would strip God of his attribute of omnipotence. Men would have us to believe that man has burst the bounds originally set by God and that God is now a spectator, more or less without power over the sin and suffering brought into the world by the fall of Adam. But such doctrine is in direct contradiction of Holy Scripture. It is written in the Word of God: "surely the wrath of man shall praise thee: the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain" (Ps. 76:10). To put it very plainly, to deny the sovereignty of God in all things is either to make God what you want him to be, which is idolatry, or it is to enter upon a path which, if logically followed, must bring you to atheism.

My friend, the sovereignty of the God of the Bible is absolute, irresistible and infinite. In declaring God's sovereignty, I am simply affirming his right as God to govern this universe, which he has created for his own glory, just as he pleases. He is the Potter; we are the clay. We have no more power over God than clay has over the potter. God moulds the clay of Adam's race into whatever form he chooses. From the lump of fallen humanity, he makes one vessel unto honor and another into dishonor. This is his right. He is God. He is under no law, rule, or power beyond his own sovereign will and holy nature. He is God.

from Don Fortner's Grace for Today for October 13.

Digest the Manna

"I will meditate in Thy precepts." --Psalm 119:15

There are times when solitude is better than society, and silence is wiser than speech. We should be better Christians if we were more alone, waiting upon God, and gathering through meditation on His Word spiritual strength for labour in His service. We ought to muse upon the things of God, because we thus get the real nutriment out of them. Truth is something like the cluster of the vine: if we would have wine from it, we must bruise it; we must press and squeeze it many times. The bruiser's feet must come down joyfully upon the bunches, or else the juice will not flow; and they must well tread the grapes, or else much of the precious liquid will be wasted. So we must, by meditation, tread the clusters of truth, if we would get the wine of consolation therefrom. Our bodies are not supported by merely taking food into the mouth, but the process which really supplies the muscle, and the nerve, and the sinew, and the bone, is the process of digestion. It is by digestion that the outward food becomes assimilated with the inner life. Our souls are not nourished merely by listening awhile to this, and then to that, and then to the other part of divine truth. Hearing, reading, marking, and learning, all require inwardly digesting to complete their usefulness, and the inward digesting of the truth lies for the most part in meditating upon it. Why is it that some Christians, although they hear many sermons, make but slow advances in the divine life? Because they neglect their closets, and do not thoughtfully meditate on God's Word. They love the wheat, but they do not grind it; they would have the corn, but they will not go forth into the fields to gather it; the fruit hangs upon the tree, but they will not pluck it; the water flows at their feet, but they will not stoop to drink it. From such folly deliver us, O Lord, and be this our resolve this morning, "I will meditate in Thy precepts."

from Spurgeon's Morning and Evening for October 12.

Whatsoever Things

(written March 26, 1993)

Time to get away and enjoy a period of rest and relaxation. I hope that you have a good spring break.

It has been said that we are in actions and behavior what we habitually think. The old adage, "garbage in, garbage out" is true. Also true, "success in, success out." If we become what we think, then it would be good to think on good things.

The apostle Paul in Philippians 4:8 says to think on these things:

-whatsoever things are true
-whatsoever things are honest
-whatsoever things are just
-whatsoever things are pure
-whatsoever things are lovely
-whatsoever things are of good report

Remember these things not only next week in Florida, but continually think on these. It will do you good.

Have a good day!
Love,
Dad

Steering Through Storms

We should steer safely through every storm which we travel so long as:

-Our heart is right.
-Our intention is fervent.
-Our courage is steadfast.
-Our trust is fixed on God.

Have a good day!
Love,
Dad

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"He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved." --Mark 16:16

Mr. MacDonald asked the inhabitants of the island of St. Kilda how a man must be saved. An old man replied, "We shall be saved if we repent, and forsake our sins, and turn to God." "Yes," said a middle-aged female, "and with a true heart too." "Ay," rejoined a third, "and with prayer"; and, added a fourth, "It must be the prayer of the heart." "And we must be diligent too," said a fifth, "in keeping the commandments." Thus, each having contributed his mite, feeling that a very decent creed had been made up, they all looked and listened for the preacher's approbation, but they had aroused his deepest pity. The carnal mind always maps out for itself a way in which self can work and become great, but the Lord's way is quite the reverse. Believing and being baptized are no matters of merit to be gloried in--they are so simple that boasting is excluded, and free grace bears the palm. It may be that the reader is unsaved--what is the reason? Do you think the way of salvation as laid down in the text to be dubious? How can that be when God has pledged His own word for its certainty? Do you think it too easy? Why, then, do you not attend to it? Its ease leaves those without excuse who neglect it. To believe is simply to trust, to depend, to rely upon Christ Jesus. To be baptized is to submit to the ordinance which our Lord fulfilled at Jordan, to which the converted ones submitted at Pentecost, to which the jailer yielded obedience the very night of his conversion. The outward sign saves not, but it sets forth to us our death, burial, and resurrection with Jesus, and, like the Lord's Supper, is not to be neglected. Reader, do you believe in Jesus? Then, dear friend, dismiss your fears, you shall be saved. Are you still an unbeliever, then remember there is but one door, and if you will not enter by it you will perish in your sins.

Spurgeon's Morning and Evening for October 5.