By Johnny Long June 19 at 8:37pm COUNTING MY BLESSINGS: Today I'm thankful for times when everything around me and inside of me is silent. I have more of these days now than I used to before I retired, but I had them then also on occasion. It's in those times when we have the opportunity to draw close to God in a certain kind of way not easily done without that same quietness. When there are no words--no "amens" or screaming "hallalooyas" or anything else that would distract us from it, we can actually HEAR the voice of our Lord with more clarity than usual (John 10: 27). In our mind, we can hear Him at work in us (Phil. 2:13) as He renews us (Rom. 12:2) to the perfection He has decreed we WILL be (Matt. 5:48). We can even hear the same prayers He hears from us--not from our lips, but from our hearts that harmonize with the Holy Spirit's utterings (Psalm 139:2; Rom. 8:26) as beautiful music to His ears. As God told Zerubbabel through the prophet Zechariah, what is done that matters is not by might or power, but by His Spirit (Zech. 4:6), and the Spirit IS very God Himself (John 4:24; II Cor. 3:17), the same as Jesus (John 10:30). In our daily walk we often encounter the strong wind of persecution (what amounts to a lot of hot air considering its REAL source--Rev. 12:10), or some earth-shattering experience we initially fail to see as the blessing it always eventually becomes, and even fiery trials of every sort imaginable--but the Lord is not in the wind, or the earthquake-experience, or the fire; His is that same still, small voice (I Kings 19:11-12) which delivers us from every one of those things (Psalm 34:19). God's still, small voice is our ark of safety in all of life's windstorms, earthquakes, and fiery trials. May He grant us the blessing of being deaf enough to the things of the world that we may hear Him as much as possible. Be still, and know.... (Psalm 46:10).
"...the wisdom of man would soon be nonplussed in contriving, and the power of man baffled in effecting, the salvation of a soul. No creature can work the change that is necessary to the salvation of a soul, either in itself or in anyone else. With men it is impossible that so strong a stream should be turned, so hard a heart softened, so stubborn a will bowed. It is a creation, it is a resurrection, and with men this is impossible; it can never be done by philosophy, medicine, or politics: but 'with God all things are possible.' "The beginning, progress, and perfection, of the work of salvation, depend entirely upon the almighty power of God, to which all things are possible. Faith is wrought by that power (Eph. 1:19), and is kept by it (I Peter 1:5)."~~Matthew Henry
http://www.videograbby.com/#
ReplyDeleteBy Johnny Long
ReplyDeleteJune 19 at 8:37pm
COUNTING MY BLESSINGS:
Today I'm thankful for times when everything around me and inside of me is silent. I have more of these days now than I used to before I retired, but I had them then also on occasion. It's in those times when we have the opportunity to draw close to God in a certain kind of way not easily done without that same quietness. When there are no words--no "amens" or screaming "hallalooyas" or anything else that would distract us from it, we can actually HEAR the voice of our Lord with more clarity than usual (John 10: 27). In our mind, we can hear Him at work in us (Phil. 2:13) as He renews us (Rom. 12:2) to the perfection He has decreed we WILL be (Matt. 5:48). We can even hear the same prayers He hears from us--not from our lips, but from our hearts that harmonize with the Holy Spirit's utterings (Psalm 139:2; Rom. 8:26) as beautiful music to His ears.
As God told Zerubbabel through the prophet Zechariah, what is done that matters is not by might or power, but by His Spirit (Zech. 4:6), and the Spirit IS very God Himself (John 4:24; II Cor. 3:17), the same as Jesus (John 10:30). In our daily walk we often encounter the strong wind of persecution (what amounts to a lot of hot air considering its REAL source--Rev. 12:10), or some earth-shattering experience we initially fail to see as the blessing it always eventually becomes, and even fiery trials of every sort imaginable--but the Lord is not in the wind, or the earthquake-experience, or the fire; His is that same still, small voice (I Kings 19:11-12) which delivers us from every one of those things (Psalm 34:19).
God's still, small voice is our ark of safety in all of life's windstorms, earthquakes, and fiery trials. May He grant us the blessing of being deaf enough to the things of the world that we may hear Him as much as possible.
Be still, and know.... (Psalm 46:10).
Johnny Long
ReplyDelete"...the wisdom of man would soon be nonplussed in contriving, and the power of man baffled in effecting, the salvation of a soul. No creature can work the change that is necessary to the salvation of a soul, either in itself or in anyone else. With men it is impossible that so strong a stream should be turned, so hard a heart softened, so stubborn a will bowed. It is a creation, it is a resurrection, and with men this is impossible; it can never be done by philosophy, medicine, or politics: but 'with God all things are possible.'
"The beginning, progress, and perfection, of the work of salvation, depend entirely upon the almighty power of God, to which all things are possible. Faith is wrought by that power (Eph. 1:19), and is kept by it (I Peter 1:5)."~~Matthew Henry