Surrounded With His Presence

Did you ever feel you were in a battle all by yourself? It is the work of the enemy to divide us from each other until we stand alone.  he, the enemy of our soul, is a divider of the saints.  This is not uncommon, all through the Old Testament God’s people faced many enemies. All the while God was dealing with them to see their Faithfulness and obedience. His desire was to prove them. Today it is not much different. The saints of God face difficulties, disappointments, and often adversaries.  However since Jesus Redeemed us, we are not alone, for He is with us and His Holy Spirit dwells in us!  The words of the Prophet Elisha are powerful:  “Be Strong and Courageous, be not dismayed” … Dismayed is a very strong word, meaning: one has no courage, under great pressure, fearful, great perplexity--filled with uncertainty, anxiety, disappointment,--on and on go the description of dismayed: the basic thought is: one is at a loss as to how to deal with adverse circumstances, etc. We must encourage ourselves with the Word of God.  When Elisha was surround by the enemy and his servant became fearful, Elisha Prayed. Prayer is a powerful weapon that God has given to us through our Lord Jesus Christ and the presence of the Holy Spirit. The enemy came by night with a host of soldiers, horses, and chariots and camped around Elisha. His servant arose in the morning and was “dismayed” as he saw the enemy surrounding them. Elisha’s spoke to him and said: “There be with us more than be with them.” Elisha Prayed for the eyes of the servant to be opened and when this happened … the servant saw that the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire surrounding him and Elisha. We have this exhortation from God’s Word; Eph. 6:13 “Wherefore take unto you the whole Armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.”  We are facing evil days, but we are not alone. Jesus is with us!    Loving you, Pastor

God's Precious Things

In my Prayer time I heard the Lord say to me, what is Precious to you?  As you know the theme for this year is to “Rejoice in the Lord!” So as I was verging on thinking negative, this was the response of the Lord to me.  So let’s see in Scripture what is the Precious things to the Lord. It is interesting to see the explanation of Precious. -- Precious deals with price, something of great value, a high price, something highly esteemed or cherished!  When we say to our child or grandchild, “you are so precious” – they really are not understanding the value you are placing on them. For to call someone or something Precious you are extremely highly esteeming them. God uses this term quite a few times in Scripture. He values creation as He talks of the ‘Precious things of heaven, the Precious fruit of the sun and moon, the Precious mountains and hills, the Precious things of the earth! God relates to the rivers, the rocks and states’ and “His eye seeth every Precious thing!” A great blessing to us, is: He keeps watch over us, we are one of those Precious things!  It would be good for us to place a great value on these things that are so often taken for granted. We don’t like to talk of death usually, but God sees it as, and I quote, “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.” Jesus is of great value and Precious to Father God.  Scripture declares: “Ye know that ye were not Redeemed with corruptible things, but with the Precious Blood of Christ, as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot.” It is so wonderful to know that we have been given “exceeding great and Precious Promises, that by these we might be partakers of His Divine nature, escaping the corruption of the world.” And then there is that Precious “Joy unspeakable” that comes with the trial of our Faith!  The song erupts in my heart:  “O precious is the flow that makes me white as snow, no other fount I know, Nothing but the Blood of Jesus! Every one of you are Precious to me!  Love Always, Pastor

Rejoice Always

As I began my Prayer for the first sermons of this New Year … My thoughts wondered through the Scriptures. This is most usual, each year, meditating upon what will stir our heart to glorify the Lord more, for I know we must grow in our relationship with Jesus. The Passage of Scripture that invaded my mind came out of our Advent, the first Message concerning Jesus in the New Testament; The angel brought this Message to the Shepherds, “Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great Joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. [Luke 2:10-11].  As I thought on this first audible Message of our Saviour straight from heaven and being given to the Shepherds – they were told of Great Joy!  Sometimes we have Joy, but Great Joy?  Such Joy overrides Fear and this Joy dwells in our Salvation!  Now I feel the Holy Spirit nudges me to pursue our response to this Holy and Powerful Message of the Angels.  I begin to see that Great Joy comes out of Rejoicing and Rejoicing Always, in all circumstances! It took a little time to meditate upon being Joyful Always! My mind wondered, Joyful in every circumstance?  The greatest example of this Joy would be when Scripture reveals that Jesus saw the cross and suffering as a Joy that set before Him.  Well as I embarked upon this thought of Rejoice Always and this message began to take shape… my car got very sick, the lift in the house that carried me to the lower apartment decided to also be sick. I use the term sick as I smile to see the circumstances arise for me to practice this Message. Yes, we must practice God’s Word!  Rejoicing in the harsh circumstances takes the edge off the devil’s plan and gives us the victory!  Such trials are seasons when we exercise our Faith and we grow stronger in our Christian life. And somehow I think Rejoicing prepares us for the Coming of our Lord and Saviour!  Habakkuk gives us a great example of Rejoicing Always, he tells us when everything fails, “I will Rejoice in the Lord, I will Joy in the God of my Salvation!” The next statement of Habakkuk is: “The Lord is my strength.” There is strength in our Rejoicing! Paul also talks about Rejoicing Always and the God of Peace shall be with you! Joel admonishes us “be glad and Rejoice in the Lord your God!”  Our New Year theme must be ... Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say Rejoice.  Loving you, Pastor