NO SMALL BLESSING and ANOTHER DAY

July 10 NO SMALL BLESSING

It is central to the heart of God to grant His best to those who make themselves His people by gathering under His protective umbrella of salvation. Jesus Christ has paid the price for all our sin and it is the desire of our Triune God to shield us from the storms generated all around us by our former disobedience.

He wants not only to shelter us from the winds and waves that are fueled by our sin, He desires also to allow gentle rain to fall upon the good seed that has been sown into our lives and allow them to produce a harvest of blessings to every life that He brings into our sphere of influence.

This is stated clearly in Psalm 81:16 where we are told, “He would feed Israel with the best wheat. He would satisfy them with honey from the rock.” This is no small blessing! It is the longing of the Father’s heart to supply His people with the best His lavish coffers can obtain.

The best He desires to supply to His own who believe in the saving power of the blood of Jesus extends far beyond golden wheat fields and jars of sweet nectar from the grass. It is the presence and power of His Holy Spirit to guide and to guard the lives of His people and to lead them into a full understanding of truth.

July 11 ANOTHER DAY

We call it ‘stick-to-it-iveness.’ It is that quality that allows one to persevere under adverse conditions. We have all read the stories of heroism about some of our nation’s founders—those men at Valley Forge, for example who bore extreme hardship through the winter but did not give up the fight for freedom.

We know of men like John McCain, Senator from Arizona, and Jeremiah Denton who were captured by the Viet Cong during the Viet Nam war. Virtually every bone in their bodies were broken; they were tortured mercilessly, but they and others like them, maintained their will to live and their will to serve their country—and employed it another day.

The Bible alerts us to the reality that being born again, living for Jesus, is not a cake walk. The enemy of God and his minions, the Word tells us, “…go about, seeking whom they may devour” I Peter 5:8. We may have been able to skate through life when we were in the devil’s camp because he left us alone. Because he already had us, he kept us oblivious to his mischief.

But once we recognized that the pleasure of sin is but for a season, he became aggressive in his effort to destroy us! James 1:4 reminds us that, “Endurance must do its complete work so you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing.” The Lord wants believers strong and secure in Him, despite the enemy’s onslaught against those who are Christ’s.