One Well

A few days ago I watched two young men digging in the sand, and it reminded me of my own little fellas of long ago.  My pastor encouraged me recently to "keep digging that Well, there is more sweet Water to be found."  Perhaps one of the biggest problems among Christians today is [not so much] the absence of digging but digging the wrong well.  The Samaritan woman in John 4 came with her waterpot to the well to "draw water."  Imagine her surprise and delight when she learned of Jesus' "living water."  The spiritual well is [indeed] deep yet we must be cautious of the well from which we draw: "Jesus does not bring anything up from the well of human nature ... He will bring them down from above." (Oswald Chambers).  In our digging, we must acknowledge our incompleteness and Christ's completeness, and wisely draw of His depths - not our own.  How is it with you - are you digging the right well?  There is only one well Whose depths are rich and endless.  Dig there!

​MWB will resume Tuesday 03-06-2018

​Stay in the Word.  

Miles of Smiles, Beverly

Familiar Voice

What a lovely conversation: "Ishma: How do you hear Yahweh's voice? Aya: How do you call a palm dove to light on your arm? Isaha: I become peaceful and then sing the dove's song ... it's the trust and familiarity between me and my dove that creates the bond. Aya: Talk with Yahweh, Ishma. A bond will form and He'll become familiar, Someone you can trust. You come to know His voice."  The struggle to hear God when He speaks is a common one, and especially with so many voices clamoring today.  John explains why sheep follow their shepherd: they know his voice (John 10:4).  In the same way, Believers will not know God's voice unless we spend time with Him; only then does His voice becomes the One we recognize.  Like a friend with whom you spend time, time with The Father develops our ear for Him, and the relationship grows into one of trust and familiarity.  Irregular time with God, however, will neither heighten nor strengthen the bond.  Is God's voice the familiar One?  If not, you can fix that.

Declare It

From the front porch of my Island home-away, I cannot see the beach.  However! - can i ever hear its sounds: "There is no speech, nor are there words ... their utterances to the end of the world." (Psalm 19:3-4).  Do you not find it peculiar what creation does by its nature  - declaring the glory of God - man must be persuaded to do?  The psalmist wrote, "Oh, that men would praise the LORD." (Psalm 107:31).  The morning sounds of birds, ocean and wind draw me to the Creator, not to bow to creation but acknowledge He Who created: the Most High - the Great King (Psalm 47:2), the King of all the earth (Psalm 47:7), the LORD on high (Psalm 91:4), the Great and Exalted and Holy One (Psalm 99:2-3).  What is your most recent declaration of-and-to the Almighty One?  Do not let creation out-do you: declare His glory today, let His praise forever be on your lips!

Say So Now

"Praise the LORD for His goodness" - five times in Psalm 107 this theme is expressed - the goodness, the mercy, the lovingkindness of the One true God, Jehovah.  This is an imperative - a command, an essential or urgent thing.  Perhaps we've lost something crucial to our faith: the deep sense of wonder about God, the works of God, the things of God.  The dedicated times and places of wonder is not where we live, however.  Even those who live in [what we call] the "dreamy" places, soon become all-to-familiar with the surroundings and also lose their sense of wonder.  How do is the thirsty and hungry souls "satisfied" (V.9)?  One focus: thanksgiving - a grateful heart!  Not in spite of our circumstances or locale, but in the midst of every circumstance and place.  "Who is wise? Let him give heed to these things, and consider the goodness of the LORD." (V.43).  I challenge you: do not wait for the right time or the right place or the right circumstance. "Let the redeemed of the LORD say so" (V.2) and ... say so now!

True Love

Imagine my surprise when I learned my Island neighbor had been swimming in the [February] unheated pool!  Her husband explained it like this: ma'am, we're from Michigan.  In other words, cold is relative.  Well, so is true love.  The Apostle John wrote eloquently of God's Love, and Its Standard for all manner of love.  "In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins." (1 John 4:10).  There's the Perfect measure of love.  If God could pour out love on the most wretched of wretches - you and I - then we have full capacity to love.  John further explains as we abide (dwell) in God, true love is perfected in us so we can love rightly and completely. How we love is relative or [as we say in the South] akin to The Father's love.  True love is always rooted in Him. Are you finding it difficult to love as God loves?  You better check your roots.

Mightily Rich

What's the difference between a ball game and a library?  Perhaps many things, but one word quickly comes to my mind: silence.  Ecclesiastes 3 tells us there is a "time to be silent." (V.7).  I suggest most of us have trouble with being silent when we should be, and even silence in general.  Silence can be deafening but it can also be golden - priceless words rightly spoken. There are indeed times when the soul sings but there are other times when the soul needs to wait in silence for God (Psalm 62:1, 5).  This is a discipline I am learning; God certainly wants to hear from me but not at the expense of hearing from Him.  "I wait for the LORD, my soul does wait, and in His word do I hope. My soul waits for the Lord more than the watchmen for the morning; indeed, more than the watchmen for the morning." (Psalm 130:5-6).  Are you doing all the talking, or are you listening in silence before the LORD?  Silent before Him proves mightily rich.  Will you sit in silence before Him today?

Before Him

One of the delights of Island life is the availability of fresh seafood.  Once ordered, it's not uncommon to grow anxious for the sea's delicacy to be placed before you.  Jeremiah wrote, "The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, to the person who seeks Him." (Lamentations 3:25).  Good how?  Unlike your favorite seafood dish, which may arrive overcooked or under cooked or tasteless, the LORD (Jehovah, Yahweh) is good in every possible way. Actually, the Hebrew says the best in comparison to everything.  Good comes when?  The LORD's goodness comes when we wait.  Waiting before God is one way we seek Him.  Oswald Chambers said, "The good is always the enemy of the best."  Oh, the magnificent things of God we forfeit because we do not wait before The Father.  Have you sat quietly before Him this week?  Before Him patiently waiting?  Listening?  Before you miss anything more, sit before Him today.

Press On

A Sunday Island blessing was Pastor Mike's message about a real problem among Believers; he called it spiritual drop-out.  Paul warned in the last days many would fall away or abandon the faith because of false teachers, but there are also other reasons for spiritual drop-out. Like failure in the classroom attributes to many school drop-outs, spiritual failure is often enough to make many just give up or quit trying. Living a holy life is hard, and we all are prone to stumbling and fall, sometimes repeating the same mistakes!  It's a common place to find ourselves pondering whether to give up or go on.  The Apostle Paul was there, and here's what he said, "... One thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4:13-14).  That doesn't sound like spiritual drop-out, does it!  If you have failed, look up then get up then press on.  It's His spiritual call on your life. Yes, press on!

Him First

From my beach chair today,

​ ​

I watched a distant fog

​ ​

​​

roll in

​ ​

until

​ ​

 I

​ ​

was literally sitting in a cool, 

​m

isty fog. Wouldn't it be wonderful if

​,​

 in this same way, we were so easily

​ ​

shrouded

​ ​

by the 

​ ​P

resence of God.  We can certainly experience

​ ​

His

​ ​

Presence but

​ ​

it's

​ ​

not

​ ​

always 

​

so easily 

​ ​a

chieved

​​

. 

​T​

he

​ ​

​​

approach to Holy God is

​ ​

not a 

​​

casual thing; David

​ ​

wrote

​​

, "

​W

ho may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart." (Psalm 24:3-4)

​​

, and

​ ​

Jesus said, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God." (Matthew 5:8).  A pure heart - this requires a diligence that Satan will discourage and hinder at all costs!  Frankly, to experience God

​​

,

​ ​

as He longs for us to

​​

,

​ ​

is hard work, and there can be no loafing.  One of

​ ​

my favorite phrases in Scripture is found in Psalm 63:8 - "my soul follows hard after Thee."  

​Now, t

here's the 

​grit 

of

​ ​

seeking

​ ​

personal holiness, and the

​ ​fundamental

​ ​

key to 

​enjoying 

the 

​delightfully 

aromatic Presence of The Father. 

​

So, what are you following after so

​ ​

intently

​​

?  If persona

​​

l holiness doesn't top your list, make a new list.  Seek Him

​ ​

first

​

!

Time With God

If we've learned nothing else in the last few years, there's no such thing as a private conversation.  There are, however, particularly private moments between God and the Believer who spends time in His Presence.  Those intimate conversations will, however, be 

​​

effectual in the life of the Christian. On the subject of discipleship, Jesus said, "What I tell you in the darkness, speak in the light, and what you hear whispered in your ear, proclaim upon the housetops." (Matthew 10:27).  What the Holy Spirit teaches us in those secluded times with The Father - in prayer and study and meditation - should change the very nature and course of our behavior, our speech, our boldness 

​and passion ​

to share the Gospel of Christ with others.  The greatest hindrance 

​may be 

that those altering private moments with God are far-and-few between.  Ultimately, who we are in and for the sake of Jesus Christ is endangered by the 

​​

absence of time  spent with God.  Is drawing near to God a regular practice in your day?  Have you heard His whisper of truth and 

​felt His enabling ​

power?  If not, your discipleship is at great risk.  Seek Him today and listen - He has much to say.

Hear God

Although I had suggested it for several years, it wasn't until 

​Ella - ​

Grand #1 

​- ​

started talking that Mr. Bill decided to get hearing aids.  Suddenly, there were things he wanted to hear

​!​

  The same could be said of Christians' spiritual hearing. God's people, at the foot of Mt Sinai, said to Moses, "Speak to us yourself and we will listen, but let not God speak to us ..." (Exodus 20:19).  Now, I love hearing my pastor preach

​, Godly leaders 

teach

​,​

 and reading biblically sound books but there's nothing like hearing 

​God speak directly to me

!  

​Perhaps 

many 

​of us

 resemble Old Testament priest Eli whose spiritual hearing had grown weak

​:​

 only after three times of young Samuel's hearing a voice did Eli discern 

​the voice to 

be 

​God's

 (1 Samuel 3:8).  The cold hard truth is most of us are not 

​​

listening nor are we nurturing a relationship with The Father that welcomes the sound of His voice.  John wrote of God

​ speaking

, "My sheep hear My voice" (10:27) and "Whoever is of God hears the words of God" (8:47).  

​It should be a 

natural 

​response ​

to listen for and hear from the One Who "inclines His ear to me" (Psalm 116:1).  

​Know this: t

he Father has much to say, and oh how He longs for us to hear Him.  Listen, and hear God.

​​

Sin Buster

Raise your hand if you love the taste of sugar!  Just one hand, please!  In 1995, a businessman and three doctors introduced a return to eating "like your ancestors" 

​with the 

Sugar Busters

​ diet​

.  

​O​

ne Puritan spoke of the "sugar of sin" and its "gall" - its resulting behavior. Let's face it

​, just like sugar, 

we love our sin; we crave it

​ intensely​

​,​

 even feel helpless to resist it.  

​This need not be; Believers 

have this promise

​,​

 "But He said to me, 'My 

​G

race is sufficient for you, for My 

​P

ower is made 

​P

erfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the 

​P

ower of Christ may rest upon me."

​ (2 Corinthians 12:9).  Our weakness for sin, which binds and captivates, gives precious opportunity for God's Grace and Power ​to be revealed Perfectly in us.  I propose giving up sugar is a "piece of cake" compared to facing the sugar of sin.  But even turning from sin is nothing in comparison to the Perfect Grace and Power that is ours in Christ Jesus.  Let us live boldly and confidently in this Promise!

Sit Quietly

Here it is Day 9 of my month-long stay on the Island.  Most getaways are fueled by a do-nothing attitude.  Yes, while it is true I am absent [even free] from a long-time routine, I never planned this getaway to be solely a vacation.  As the Island trip materialized, also did my greatest passion for it: spending dedicated time with The Father.  And, guess what: He's here!  Actually, He arrived before I did; I actually found Him waiting for me!  A few weeks ago in his message, my Pastor presented [what would be] the theme for this month: sit quietly before the Lord.  Psalm 37:7 says, "Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him."  

​Do you find it difficult 

to sit, to wait

​, to 

sit and wait patiently

​?

  Here's what I've learned already - it takes some practice.  Time with Almighty God is not like an on-demand movie; we cannot 

​summon

 His Presence like ordering a meal at a fine restaurant.  God does not do our bidding!  

​Instead, we are to 

"

​b

e still" He says

​ - to cease striving.  Learning to sit quietly is well underway here on the Island, and it's a discipline I plan to take home with me.  How about you - would you join me in learning to sit quietly before the Lord?