PEACE IS MY CONTINUAL GIFT TO YOU

Come, sit, and enjoy a cup of tea or coffee in the comfort of the Lord:  "Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice."  Ephesians  4:31

PEACE IS MY CONTINUAL GIFT TO YOU. It flows abundantly from My throne of grace. Just as the Israelites could not store up manna for the future but had to gather it daily, so it is with My Peace. The day-by-day collecting of manna kept My people aware of their dependence on Me. Similarly, I give you sufficient Peace for the present, when you come to Me by prayer and petition with thanksgiving. If I gave you permanent Peace, independent of My Presence, you might fall into the trap of self-sufficiency. May that never be!

I have designed you to need Me moment by moment. As your awareness of your neediness increases, so does your realization of My abundant sufficiency. I can meet every one of your needs without draining my resources at all. Approach My throne of grace with bold confidence, receiving My Peace with a thankful heart.

From the book: "Jesus Calling - Enjoying Peace In His Presence"

At Risk Of Falling

Come, sit, and enjoy a cup of tea or coffee in the comfort of the Lord:  "Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice."  Ephesians  4:31

       "If you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall!" —1 Corinthians 10:12

When my friend Elaine was recovering after a bad fall, a hospital worker placed a bright yellow bracelet on her wrist. It read: Fall Risk. That phrase meant: Watch this person carefully. She may be unsteady on her feet. Help her get from place to place.

First Corinthians 10 contains something like a “Fall Risk” warning for believers. With a glance back at his ancestors, Paul noted the human potential to fall into sin. The Israelites complained, worshiped idols, and had immoral relationships. God grew unhappy with them and allowed them to experience consequences for their wrongdoing. However, Paul said, “These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us . . . . So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!” (vv. 11–12).

It’s easy to trick ourselves into believing that we’re done with a particular sort of sin. Even when we’ve struggled through the worst of it—admitting our problem, repenting, and recommitting ourselves to following God’s ways—temptation may come calling. God makes it possible for us to avoid falling back into the same patterns. He does this by providing a way out of the sinful act we’re considering. Our part is to respond to His offer of escape.
—JENNIFER BENSON SCHULDT

Lord, let me see the way of escape You offer when I am tempted. Give me the strength to accept Your help so I can stay faithful to You. I know this is Your desire for me, and I thank You that You are at work in me.
Great blessings are often followed by great temptations.

"Our Daily Bread"

Waiting On God

Come, sit, and enjoy a cup of tea or coffee in the comfort of the Lord:  "Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice."  Ephesians  4:31

                                      " . . .  Their strength is to sit still."  Isaiah  30:7

     Waiting on God is not stagnation, but the wisest and most productive of all occupations; for it is then that God charges our souls with a super-abundance of His grace to prepare us for greater service!  God never places us in any position where we cannot grow in some way.  When we are not sending branches upward, we may be sending roots downward.  When everything seems to us to be characterized by the word  "failure,"  we may be making the best and the most spiritual kind of progress!  While we sit still and patiently wait on God, our souls are imbued with His strength and prepared for greater tasks ahead.

     When the pursuing Egyptians trapped the helpless Israelites at the Red Sea, Moses said,  "Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord"  (Exodus 14:13).  When the hosts of the Moabites and Ammonites closed in on Judah, King Jehoshaphat said to the people,  Stand ye still, and see the salvation of the Lord"  (2 Chronicles 20:17).  Yes, there are times when waiting is more essential than working, and when trying must give place to trusting!  If God has set you aside through sickness or trial, do not be rebellious; it is His way of imparting to you His strength for greater victories ahead.

     Luther Burbank often startled the world by the apparent wonders he performed in the realm of fruits  and vegetables.  What people did not know was that it sometimes took twenty-five years of selection and cross-breeding to make a "spineless cactus" or a "seedless orange."  In the light of this should we be surprised or impatient when God takes a little time to work on our immortal soul so that He may perform His wonders? Trustingly resign yourself to His will and "let patience has her perfect work"  (James  1:4).

"Bread For Each Day"

Faith

Come, sit, and enjoy a cup of tea or coffee in the comfort of the Lord:  "Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice."  Ephesians  4:31

             "And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground."
                                                                                                                       Exodus  14:22

     The Bible is a Book of miracles!  If you refuse to believe in the supernatural, you will soon lay the Scriptures aside.

     One young man to whom I witnessed said,  "I cannot accept Christ, for I have never seen Him.  With me 'seeing is believing!'"  Of course, he had not been enlightened by the Holy Spirit and so my well-intended testimony beat helplessly against the iron doors of his unbelief.  Yet he did not realize with all of his intelligence (for he was an excellent scholar), that the statement he made was in itself sheer nonsense.  Seeing is not believing at all.  Seeing is knowing!  You don't have to "believe" that which you can prove.  Faith, on the other hand, is simply taking God at His Word even though you cannot verify what He says with your feeble, human senses.

     The crossing of the Red Sea by Israel is one of the many miracles recorded in the Bible which has to be received by faith.  A ten-year-old with a vivid imagination who had heard the story at Sunday school was asked what he had learned that day at church.  "Well," he said, "our teacher told us about when God sent Moses behind the enemy lines to rescue the Israelites.  When they came to the Red Sea, Moses called for the engineers to build a pontoon bridge.  After they had all crossed they looked back and saw the Egyptian tanks coming.  Moses radioed head-quarters to send bombers to blow up the bridge and save the Israelites."  "Bobby,"  exclaimed his startled Mother,  'is that really the way your teacher told that story?"  "Well, not exactly - but if I told it her way, you'd never believe it!"  Yes, unbelief which is the root of all sin, stumbles at the miraculous, even as it stumbles at the offer of salvation vicariously provided by a virgin-born Mediator.  Oh, for faith to simply take God at His Word!

"Bread For Each Day"