“An off day isn’t quite the same as a day off!” ‑‑W.W. Wiersbe

We all have had “off days” in ministry, kind of like, “off days” in golf!  The driver is just a little off, the pitching wedge just not working right, the sand wedge just not getting under, the putter, well, it just “ain’t puttin’!”  At the end of the game we fling our clubs in the trunk of the car and quip, “Sure a good thing I got a two-for-one discount today ‑ I sure wouldn’t have wanted to pay full price for that game!” [Read more…]

“My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? Why are You so far from helping Me, and from the words of My groaning? O My God, I cry in the daytime, but You do not hear me: and in the night season, and am not silent.” Psalm 22:1-2

God speaking to God! God crying out to God and God not answering! God asking God for help and God not helping! God groaning to God all the day long and into the night season, and God in heaven is silent! God feeling forsaken by God! God being forsaken by God!

This Old Testament text in Psalm 22 coincides with the New Testament text in Matthew 26 as we watch Christ, our blessed Savior, enter the Garden of Gethsemane and in thrice prayer intensely petition God the Father : “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death…O my Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will…O My Father, if this cup cannot pass away from Me unless I drink it, Your will be done” (Matthew 26:38, 39, 42). This Psalm is also prophetic of Christ’s cry from the Cross, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me” (Matthew 27:46)? In both instances, in Gethsemane and at Golgotha, when it is all said and done, our Lord is resting in the will of God!

[Read more…]

Now the LORD had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you.” –Genesis 12:1

“By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance.  And he went out, not knowing where he was going.”  –Hebrews 11:8

Books written. Sermons preached.  Lessons taught.  But still the question is asked, “How can I know the will of God for my life?”  With all the instruction that we have within God’s Word, the Scriptures, can it really be that difficult to know God’s will?  In Abraham’s day God spoke audibly, in our day He speaks through His Word, the Bible.  God spoke – Abraham obeyed.  Abraham’s environment was that of polytheistic worship, the worship of many gods.  His father was of that frame of belief.  But God had a purposeful plan for his life and He began by calling him out unto Himself. [Read more…]

Behold, I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; whoever believes will not act hastily. Isaiah 28:16

In ancient building practices, the cornerstone was the principal stone placed at the corner of the edifice. The cornerstone was usually one of the largest, the most solid, and the most carefully constructed of any in the edifice. Numerous times in Scripture Jesus describes Himself as the Cornerstone that His church would be built upon, a body consisting of both Jewish and Gentile believers. [Read more…]

In the complete writings of “Murray On Prayer,” published by Whitaker House, we read this about the author. Andrew Murray (1828-1917) lived and ministered as both a pastor and author from the towns and villages of South Africa. His earliest writings were written to provide nurture and guidance for Christians of all ages and were actually an extension of his pastoral work. He wrote to give daily practical help to many of the people in his congregation who lived out in the farming communities and could only come into town for church services on rare occasions. Most of Murray’s writings revolved around prayer and he adopted the practice of placing many of his more devotional books into thirty-one separate readings to correspond with the days of the month.

Would you believe that, finally, at the age of 78, Murray resigned from the pastorate and devoted the last eleven years of his life to his manuscripts, writing profusely, moving from one book to the next with an intensity of purpose and a zeal that few men of God have ever equaled? He often said of himself, rather humorously, that he was like a hen about to hatch an egg; he was restless and unhappy until he got the burden of the message off his mind! It was during these later years of his life that these manuscripts were compiled into books that have been influential in the lives of believers the world over for more than eighty years!

The Scriptures have always encouraged me during tough times (I Peter 5:10; Psalm 34:19; Isaiah 24:15; 61:10) but also the writings of great men of God. Years ago I came across an article on how Andrew Murray, going through a very painful experience in his life, worked through trials. It has been a real blessing to me and I trust it will be an encouragement to you also. Maybe you should clip and place it in the flyleaf of your Bible.

“First, He brought me here, it is by His will I am in this strait place: in that fact I will rest. Next, He will keep me here in His love, and give me grace to behave as His child. Then, He will make the trial a blessing, teaching me the lessons He intends me to learn, and working in me the grace He means to bestow. Last, in His good time He can bring me out again–how and when He knows. Let me say I am here….by God’s appointment, in His keeping, under His training, for His time!”