I am not sure that I have shared this story before. However, the memories came flooding back into my mind as I prepared for October workshops that NoblePurpose Ministries plans to conduct with the Indian Community Fellowship in two regions of Eastern India. The mission statement that we have adopted for this trip is Encourage, Equip, and See. We hope to encourage Christian church leaders through studies of God, the Father; Jesus, the Son; and the Holy Spirit. We plan to equip these leaders with some tools that may make their ministries more effective. We hope to see what the Lord is doing as He accomplishes His purposes in India and throughout the world.

       Where do you run in time of need? The Proverbs writer gives us this wisdom, “The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous man runs into it and is safe” (Proverbs 18:10). The first session of our workshops is intended to encourage one another as we consider the names that GOD revealed of Himself throughout Scripture. This session borrows from Kay Arthur’s devotional study LORD, I Want to Know You and A.W. Tozer’s The Attributes of God. These inspiring works have encouraged many of us by offering glimpses through Scripture into the personality of an omnipotent, immutable, and awesome GOD. Our Creator is beyond our human capacity to comprehend. Paul asks the Church of Rome, ““For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?” (see Romans 11:34). The same GOD illustrates who He is by introducing Himself with different names. He takes 6,000 years to introduce Himself to us in ways that encourages us to get to know Him more and draw close to His presence. As Christians, we know a GOD who wants us to be with Him, always! He is GOD of all occasions and needs. He is able!

In Him,

Dan

www.noblepurposeministries.org

When the apostle Paul wanted to communicate to the Thessalonians the tenderness of his loving service to them he used the universally recognized example of a mother.

“As apostles of Christ we could have been a burden to you, but we were gentle among you, like a mother caring for her little children.” – 1 Thessalonians 2:7

When God wanted to assure his chosen people of His enduring care for them He wrote:

“As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you; and you will be comforted over Jerusalem.” – Isaiah 66:13

And even more powerfully, He expressed the depth of His compassion for them by asserting that it surpasses even that of a mother for her child.

“Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you!” – Isaiah 49:15

So, Mothers, God has directed our minds to you as the universally-experienced standard of love to convey to us just an inkling of the strength and power of His love for us. We acknowledge the honor God has directed toward you and we join Him in giving honor to whom honor is due.

Is James suggesting that there are actually some advantages to being poor? If so, wouldn’t we be robbing the poor of those spiritual advantages by working to lift them out of their deprived material condition?
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“Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. – Ezekiel 16:49

“Then Jesus said to his host, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. 13But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, 14and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.” – Luke 14:12-14
“When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” – Luke 18:22

On the other hand, is God’s heart so filled with the needs of the poor that His command to the rich young ruler to give everything he had to the poor is actually a general command for all of us – that like in the early days of the church we should share everything we have with anyone who needs it?

What is your take on it? Share your wisdom.

These words by Don Quixote in “Man of La Mancha” ring in my heart as I struggle once again to join the battle against my obesity. I’m not yet sure how I’m going to tackle the problem this time. I have tried and eventually failed at every tack I’ve taken. I’ve tried “Weight Watchers”, “Protein Power” (a variation of the Atkins Diet), “Spirit-Led Eating”, portion control, eating slowly, “Weight Watcher’s” (again), counting calories,… and on and on. I’ve always prayed for God’s help and I’ve probably lost 500 pounds in my lifetime – but always after days, weeks or even months of bitter battle, I have ballooned back up to where I was – or beyond. So here I sit in front of my computer, 125 pounds overweight, struggling for words to express my frustration and searching vainly for some ray of hope as I look for another windmill at which to tilt.
There’s an old saying, “If you do the same old thing in the same old way you will get the same old result.” So I’m wondering, “Have I always failed because in my great wisdom I decided on a course of action and then asked God to help me to be successful?” On the other hand wouldn’t it have been more God-honoring, smarter, and ultimately successful to have taken the problem on my knees to my Father who knows me inside and out and waited patiently for direction from Him.
Henry Blackaby once said something like “If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plan.”
I think I will take Paul’s advice: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” – Philippians 4:6, 7

Throughout the pain of all that heartbreak and suffering, Marge’s trust in God never wavered. She was happy and she continuously shared her joyful faith with her husband, her six children, and the rest of us in the family along with countless friends. Though Marge and I were often separated by half a continent or more I cherished our extended telephone conversations that always gravitated toward spiritual discussions and the sharing of our common faith in God. She was the resident family counselor and via countless prayers and chats she urged her children, the rest of our family and her many friends to bring their problems to God and to experience the joy and peace of faith in God. Her last seven years following her resurrection were some of her most fruitful. She often said that God must have given her those seven years because He still had something for her to do. I think she was right.
It’s been three years now since she flew her cage and though I still miss her immeasurably, I don’t for one second begrudge her the joy with which I know she is filled as she sings with the heavenly chorus praising God.
Though she never met most of you here is the message I know she would send you.
“This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.” – I John 5:3, 4

After listening to her, my wife asked her a couple of questions.
First, “Have you talked about your plan to take legal action with your husband?” She replied, “No, but he will learn all about it when he is served with the documents.” Secondly, “Have you considered whether or not this action is God-honoring and pleasing to Him?”

To make a long story short, the woman went home, shared her anguish with her husband and discovered that he was horribly shocked and distraught to realize that she was hurting so grievously. He expressed his genuine love for her and was eager to do whatever it would take to alleviate her distress. Soon he began courting her as he had done so well when they first married. In a later joint counseling session the couple asked my wife, “Why did no one else even question if the proposed separation would be God-honoring and pleasing to Him?” They are now on a second honeymoon and I can see God smiling.

Well, men, setting aside whatever deficiencies and offenses we might focus on in the actions of this wife, I think there is a message here for us. Is God pleased and being honored by the way you care for your wife? I think sometimes we men can be pretty thick between the ears when it comes to understanding our wives’ basic needs – in spite of the fact that God has clearly expressed how he “wired” our wives and how he wants us to nurture their lives.

Paul wrote; “Husbands, love your wives ….” (Eph.5:25) The Holy Spirit directed him to write that because it is the most basic need of our wives – more than food, clothing and a nice house. Note that this word from our Lord is not optional. It is not just a recommendation. It is a clear command. God doesn’t just say “I think this would be a nice idea for birthdays, anniversaries and Valentine’s Day.” He said, “This is how I want you treat my daughter – always.”

Furthermore, the instruction is not conditional. It does not say “Love your wives as long as they respect you and treat you with kindness.” However, the Holy Spirit did say, “… love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.” (Eph.5:25) And we all know how that went. Our Lord didn’t wait until we loved and respected and submitted to him, rather, “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)

Men, a marriage to our wife is a holy gift from God. He has placed one of his daughters in our care and we need to hold her in our hands, caress her gently and treat her with the grateful love and respect due such a priceless gift from God. God cherishes marriage so much that he used it to illustrate the intimacy of his relationship with the Israelites. (Ezekiel 16) God’s concept of marriage is so holy that He uses it repeatedly throughout the New Testament to model the close connection between Christ and His church. So it is imperative that we accept this precious gift seriously and determine to care for it in the same way that Christ cared (cares) for the church.

I challenge you to find out how your wife is feeling about your “husbanding”. Sit down with her and ask her these two questions.

“Do you feel connected to me?”

“Do you feel loved and cherished by me?”

Then close your mouth, open your ears, sit back and listen intently to what she has to say.

Friends this reaches far beyond the borders of our homes. God hopes to use the marriages of His people to model to the world his connection with his people and the relationship of his Son with His church. So it is vital that we fulfill his hope. We must be certain we don’t share the condemnation God made of some of His people in the first century when he said through the apostle Paul, “My name is blasphemed amongst the Gentiles because of you.” (Romans 2:24)

There is this little hill located on the outskirts of Jerusalem.

I staggered up the path to the crest of that hill and I could see two crosses with their human cargoes already in stark relief against the late morning sky. As I reached the summit, I saw a third roughly hewn cross lying on the ground – waiting for me. Forcefully I was thrust down on top of it. Two soldiers pinned down my arms while a third sat straddle my legs making any struggle useless. Frantically my mind flashed back to the screams of anguish I had heard while I was struggling up the hill when the other two criminals were being nailed to their crosses. Their screams had been followed by muted thuds and tortured groans as each cross had been raised and dropped into its anchor hole

What had brought me here flashed through my mind: the lies, the bitter, caustic words hurled in anger, the selfish choices, the hidden dishonesties, the secret blasphemies, the silent mental adulteries, the carelessly procrastinated or ignored acts of kindness, and all the other sin that had accumulated during seventy-three years of my self-centered life.

Then I felt the point of a cold iron nail pressed cruelly against the softness of my flesh. My stomach knotted. Every muscle in my body tensed. And as the executioner raised the mallet to drive in the nail, a cry froze in my throat.

But hazily through the sweat seeping into my eyes, I glimpsed the form of a man in a dazzling white robe. He stepped forward, gently grasped the upraised arm of the soldier, and whispered something quietly in his ear. The soldier stared at him in disbelieving bewilderment. Then he just nodded his head, dropped his arm and stepped back.

The man in the white robe reached down, took my hand and lifted me gently up from the rough timbers. After a tender love-filled hug He guided me reeling back into the arms of my family who were sobbing among the crowd of onlookers.

Dazed and shaking, I glanced back over my shoulder and saw my rescuer purposefully taking my place on the cross. I looked down into his eyes and saw tears of inconceivable sadness – for me – and a consciousness of the scope of his love for me swept over me like a tidal wave.

I watched the nails being driven first into and through his wrists – and then his feet. I could almost feel the anguish that I knew should have been mine. While the brilliant crimson blood gushed from his wrists and feet, I noticed the dazzling white of his robe had faded to a dirty gray. His cross was slowly raised and then plunged violently into the remaining hole between the crosses of the two criminals.

Immediately, silently a formidable darkness began to creep over the whole land and for the next three hours it hung there, bearing down on us with an oppressive heaviness. After what seemed like an interminable pause during which time seemed to have stopped an anguished cry from his parched throat sliced through the uneasy silence. “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”

Finally, his head dropped to his chest and he murmured, “It is finished”

At that moment the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. The earth shook, rocks split apart, and tombs opened. The bodies of many godly men and women who had died were raised from the dead. They left the cemetery after Jesus’ resurrection, went into the holy city of Jerusalem, and appeared to many people. The Roman officer and the other soldiers at the crucifixion were terrified by the earthquake and all that had happened. They said, “This man truly was the Son of God!”
(The New Living Translation: Matthew 27:51-54)

Sunday morning His tomb was empty. But my mind will never be empty of the images of that Friday morning on that little hill outside Jerusalem.

 “God’s name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.” 

For most of my life (On May 10 I will have been a Christian for 62 years.) I have thought about myself and my challenges and my feelings and my successes and my failures in relationship to God. It’s only in the last few years that I have begun to contemplate the feelings of God in our relationship. At first that may seem to be rather presumptuous, to think one can know how God feels about anything, yet God often shares His feelings with us. It seems to me He wants us to know how He feels. Listen.

The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain.  (Gen. 6:6)

Therefore this is what the LORD Almighty says:
       “See, I will refine and test them,
       for what else can I do
       because of the sin of my people? (Jer. 9:7)

“A son honors his father and a servant his master. If I am a father, where is the honor due me? If I am a master, where is the respect due me?” says the LORD Almighty.  (Malachi 1:6)

“Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked?” declares the Sovereign LORD. “Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live?” (Ezek. 18:23)

When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.  (Matt. 9:36)

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! (Luke 13:4)

“Father, forgive us for our insensitivity to your pain and grief.”
-JSClose

In HIm,

Dan

www.noblepurposeministries.org

George Washington’s Thanksgiving Proclamation

Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor — and whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me “to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.”

Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be — That we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks — for His kind care and protection of the People of this Country previous to their becoming a Nation — for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of His Providence which we experienced in the tranquility [sic], union, and plenty, which we have since enjoyed — for the peaceable and rational manner, in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national One [capital O] now lately instituted — for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed; and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and in general for all the great and various favors which He hath been pleased to confer upon us.

And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions — to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually — to render our national government a blessing to all the people, by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed — to protect and guide all Sovereigns and Nations (especially such as have shewn [sic] kindness onto us) and to bless them with good government, peace, and concord — To promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the encrease [sic] of science among them and us — and generally to grant unto all Mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best.

Given under my hand at the City of New York
the third day of October in the year of our Lord 1789
George Washington

 http://gwpapers.virginia.edu/documents/thanksgiving/intro.html