What Is Your Will In Christ?

To The Hand That Holds Me Up Oh Lord, when I allow myself by your conditions to remain in your presence, I have no fear that I may be brought down. For the hand that holds me up is not my own, but the one that cannot be shaken. Every assault of my adversary only brings new opportunity for blessing. Because I cannot lose when you fight for me. Held tight in your bosom, I have only to watch your faithful love for me play out. What can be taken that you have not given? What joy eternal given by the God that dotes on me that can be brought to end? In your bosom I find myself complete. My face hidden in the fold of your robe, I have no care. I pray only Lord that your great wisdom will lead my heart always to remain in your presence and that your will born of your great love for me will forever be my lot. Forever, praise and glory be to the hand that holds me up!

The Truth Hurts? Really? I'm sure many of us have felt a sting at one time or another when confronted with truth. But is it really the truth that brings us pain? Or is it really the sudden sharp acknowledgment that we're faced with? I tend to believe that it's the recognition that we're in error or that we've been deceived that causes us pain and that it's the acknowledgment of, and compliance with the truth that brings us healing and life. For example, the need to express individuality and intellect in radical ways seems to be a wide and common goal in the world among people today. But I harbor a fear of the extremes of independence I see many striving to achieve. Because the truth is that the spirit of independence can be a spirit of deception. The quest for independence has the ability to separate us from truth and life. The truth is evident whether we choose to acknowledge it or not and that is that we're totally dependent on ...

I recently re-read the books of Leviticus and Numbers. I'll admit that it's been a while since I last spent the time to read them in their entirety. In the past, while reading these books, I've felt somewhat disconnected. I'm a Gentile so my salvation lies in the richness and grace of the New Testament or the New "Covenant". Previously what I gleaned from these books was not without value - I learned a great deal about the personality, likes and dislikes of our Lord. But I saw it as a history of a people that was not my own under an old covenant that didn't apply to me directly. But this time was different. Instead of reading these books with a sense of "duty" to do so, this time I was searching with an openness to what richness I might find. The Lord had placed in me a curious desire to read them again and in my little world, that's a signal of a promised blessing. So with a hunger to find the treat that I knew was to come, I began to ...

Lord, let this one prayer rise above all others that I have prayed... and above any other supplication ... It's a simple thing I ask Lord ... yet I ask it with all that I am ... The granting of my request will rock the earth and the thundering power of it echo in the heavens ... At Your response ... the whole of Heaven will shout with joy in anticipation ... because they know Your heart ... My request Lord ... the one thing I ask above all else ... is that Thy will be done in all that You have created ... and let it begin with me ... In all that exists ... there is one power that cannot be contended ... one wisdom that cannot be compared ... and one heart purely righteous, all holy, faithful and true beyond any other ... and they all belong to You ... There's no brighter hope ... and no greater gain to be desired ... than Your plans for our lives .... and all of creation ... What must be suffered ... must be suffered ... what must be taken a...

Like Josephs' brothers, if we didn’t know the whole story of God's plan to include the rest of us in His family as well as the Children of Israel, we might be asking "what about us?". Not knowing might tend to make us jealous of them. And not understanding God's secret plan, as Paul referred to it, might make us resentful or even angry toward the people that crucified our Savior and King. But I thank God for the truth of His Word and His grace. Not only for us, but for them also. Christ's invitation, as Paul clearly stated was "to the Jews first and then to the Gentiles." There are many who believe that the Jews have lost favor with God. But if any might doubt the continuing relevancy of Israel in the history of the family of God, Romans 11 is a must-read for those who truly want to understand Israel's importance to our Father and the relationship that does exist between us. The truth substantiated by God's word is that the true child ...