Is The Lord Pleased With Us?

Posted by Staff on Sep 28, 2008
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I am afraid at times we wonder if the Lord is pleased with us or as the Psalmist said, “By this I know that thou favourest me...” We wonder if God’s favor or smile is upon us. We wonder if He is with us, to be very honest. Trouble and trial comes into our lives, and we wonder if maybe we have done wrong. Maybe the Lord is chastening us. Maybe we are reaping something we have sown. Maybe we are out of His favor. How many thoughts crowd our minds in this regard! How then can we know the Lord does favor us and is pleased with us? Here in Psalm 41:11 the writer gives a plain and simple answer. He knows the Lord favors him because his enemies do not triumph over him. Read it. Enemies all around him and ourselves. They come in many forms. Whatever they may be; we can see God’s favor by our triumph. Take your circumstances in life.  It may be everything from your health or finances to besetting sins and obvious attacks on you by others. Some times it is so obvious and bad that others (family members, neighbors, co-workers, Christians, etc.) make it plain they want you to fall or fail. They attack you. They try to get you to quit. They try to discourage you so you retreat. It comes in many forms. Yet it does not stop you. It may and will test you greatly. Many thoughts of despair and discouragement come your way. The frown of man makes you hesitate. Fear can overwhelm our souls. But you get up and go forward. You don’t retreat from godliness, the will of God and serving the Lord. You don’t succumb to that besetting sin so that it takes over your life. You don’t stop living for Christ.  Yes, at times we go and weep bitter tears due to our failures before the Lord. But you continue to live for the Lord, to seek Him, to gather with His people, to witness of His saving grace, to do what He has enabled you to do. You and I are triumphing over our enemies, not them over us when this is true.  And this is God’s favor upon us.  He is pleased with us. Are you going forward? Are you still living the same consecrated life? Are you still serving the Lord?  Are you still maintaining the same degree of Godliness in your home? Then take heart. The Lord favors you and I! He is pleased with us! Our enemies have not triumphed over us.  He has upheld you in your integrity (Ps. 41:12). He has set you before His face. Say then as the Psalmist “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting and to everlasting.  Amen and Amen! 

The Benefit of Our Children Suffering

Posted by Staff on Sep 21, 2008
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That we suffer is everywhere evident. “Man is born unto trouble” is putting it mildly, we might say. Why we suffer is not always as evident. Sometimes it is so not evident, that we are left with questions as to why this or that has happened to us. Then answers as to why we suffer are varied and many. Everything from God is glorified to we are reaping what we sowed is given as a reason or answer. My intent in these words is not to answer all the whys in regards to suffering. There are answers, and good ones. Rather, I am thinking of a particular type of suffering that is very practical and good for its recipient. It is reflected in my title. That is the suffering and hardships children need and have to experience (one way or another) growing. up. In fact, if they don’t experience certain types of suffering, they will not grow up as they ought. I note this because we live in a day and age when we do all we can to alleviate suffering and consequences to a fault.  It was the opposite at other times. Justice can be dominant to the exclusion of mercy, and hardness comes from that. But mercy without justice results in softness, sinfully and debilitatingly so. The tendency in our day is to pamper our children, not allowing them to experience the consequences of their decisions. We are constantly “bailing” them out.  Guess where that phrase came from?! That is right. It comes from parents posting bail to get their child out of jail. I have seen this many times. And more than once I have had parents tell me that is it. They let them sit in the clinker this time. And we would all say it was about time! Yet were no different in other areas, maybe not so large lawfully, but just as larger in regards to their virtue or lack thereof.  Brethren, Solomon wrote to his children at one point that “if you be wise, you shall be wise for yourself: but if you scorn, you alone shall bear it.” As us so they must learn the “hard way” some of the things necessary to grow up. They must pay their own bills, take care of themselves, make their own decisions, and fix their own messes! Granted we ought to train them up properly, and the better we do, the better for them, but even then there will be a certain amount suffering that accompanies growing up. It is good to know that the example we have set and instruction we have given will eventually be accessed to their benefit. But it takes time and suffering. Don’t allow your emotions to thwart this (get in the way).  Eventually the door has to be closed in their faces, the strings cut, and they must paddle their own boats. That is life. Welcome to the world! And they may even relish their new found freedoms as they come. Fine. And we are for them in all regards. But is it wise to let them suffer in order to learn. “It is good that I have been afflicted,” the Psalmist wrote. Why? “That I might learn thy statues.” And as our children suffer the afflictions that come from doing wrong and from doing right (either way) they will likewise learn His statues. Think of your own sufferings and the good it has brought in growing up. Yes, maybe our parents could have noted them more and lent a word of comfort, or even trained us better, but it was their forcing us to bear the brunt of our own decisions as we grow older that was necessary for us to learn and grow. May we be wise in this. In this day of pampering and excessive mercy, we need to allow our children to bear alone the rugged and at times cruel consequences of living in a fallen world. A world that hates God and a world that God demands we reap the consequences of our actions. 

The True Nature of Christian Fellowship

Posted by Staff on Sep 14, 2008
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Recently I spoke on “Fellowship.” In it I tried to encourage increased fellowship. One of my observations is a lack of this somewhat. And a strikingly obvious way to see this is to note that there are several I personally have had very little fellowship over the years. Granted, time and circumstances affects that.  But the fact remains that where time and circumstances allow and even are obvious, there can be little or no fellowship with certain of the brethren. Remember that fellowship is a joint interest in the Lord Jesus Christ. When this is true, we mutually visited around the Lord Jesus. Or we find the Lord Jesus via His Word is involved in our relationship between ourselves. Let me go further, one of the striking marks of good fellowship is when we openly talk about our lives and the Lord’s work in them at present. Granted we can have “doctrinal discussions.” I enjoy them. Maybe too much!  But I am speaking of personal lives and the Lord’s work in them. You have noticed, have you not, how two friends can be together; visiting without relief about their lives, what is new and not so new. So likewise fellowship is when two or more are doing this in light of the Lord’s Word in our lives. Paul used the word “enlarged” when speaking of this. Why is it, then, that so many of us can be together, but so little fellowship at times? Oh, maybe it is there on one side, but not both together? Well, many reasons contribute to this, none of them good. This lack of “walking in the light” is often so because of pride or fear, self centeredness, a lack of humility, bitterness, anger, etc. Whatever it is, it is not good. I will put is plainly again. We ought all of us, believers, to find ourselves freely fellowshipping with one another- with all of the Lord’s people. If not, be sure of this, the fault lies in your or my own life. Don’t blame the other person. They may be hard, critical, or even deceitful, but none of that is any excuse to not fellowship. Maybe we need to tell them that! Oh, they will get offended, you say. Well, great peace have they that love thy law, and nothing will offend them, the Psalmist said. Brethren, are there some here that you do not, will not fellowship with? If so, you need to correct that. You and I are to greet all the brethren. We are to fellowship with all the Lord’s people. Make no excuses. Do what you have to in order to get by yourself, so you can fellowship with that undesirable fellow believer. It is sin to not fellowship with one another. You are sinning against me to refuse my fellowship. And so I you.  Let us go forward in this matter. Let us humble ourselves, and become surprised at the great benefit that comes into our lives from learning to fellowship, and to fellowship with all the Lord’s people. 

A Clear Presentation

Posted by Staff on Sep 07, 2008
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I am reminded of Phillip and the eunuch. We are all familiar with the story of Phillip crossing paths with the eunuch. The eunuch is sitting in his chariot reading the Bible (the O. T. book of Isaiah). Phillip comes by, asks him if he understands what he is reading, and he answers. Do you remember his answer? He asks a question back. He asks “How can I except some man should guide me?” Phillip then gets up into the chariot, sits down beside him and explains to him what the Bible is saying. He “preached unto him Jesus,” the Bible states. He took the portion in the O. T. about the Lord Jesus and explained it to him. By the time he was done, the eunuch settled on Christ, was baptized and both went their way. There are several things striking about this event. One, though, is the need for Phillip to explain the Bible and the Gospel to the eunuch. Well, he preached. But the point is he helped the eunuch gain an understanding of what God’s word was saying, which resulted in understanding and his conversion. So likewise this is the great need today as then. Granted, we are not all Phillip and how often do we see someone sitting, reading their Bibles? Yet the example bears learning from. It is this. It is my observation that what many people need is for someone to sit with them, open a Bible, and show them in Scriptures Who Christ is, what He has done and how they can believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. It is, we all agree, the word of God (not our words) that are powerful. And what better way to see that than to open that Word and have the lost person look at it and read it. The Holy Spirit can then directly address the need of that particular soul. I am afraid to many people are left with our words, not God’s Word. But more importantly, to see the need for a clear presentation of the Gospel. Consider this. Most of us are not like Phillip nor have his gifting, boldness and clarity. But we do have ones we know and are trying to reach for Christ. Have you, with those ones in your life, ever opened the Bible and shown them Christ in the Scriptures?  Remember Jesus told some to search the Scriptures for in them they thought they had eternal life, but didn’t.  Brethren, step out by faith in this regard.  Have you ever opened a Bible and had the listener look, even read, so that God was directly speaking to them via His Word?  If not, consider following this great example.  There is no doubt in my mind it is greatly needed.  It gets rid of all the opinions and arguments. It puts the sinner in direct contact with a living God. It is God’s way. It will not return void. It is bound to be blessed by the Lord.