Well, it's been a lazy, icy day here in South Carolina. I am so ready for spring!!! Since all my plans were changed because of the bad weather, I decided to get all my tax stuff together.

Looks like we are going to pay this year. For the first time in our marriage...in 21 years! Why? We had a tough year last year financially because Nick lost his job...and now we are to pay. Well, amen.

Michael Wells says there is always something to keep us abiding in Christ. Amen. He is my Sustainer. He holds all things together. Philippians 4:19 And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

He has been absolutely faithful! I am looking forward to see how He's going to come up with this money before April 15th! Thank You, my Jesus. Yes, I would rather have You and Your nearness than the false security of this world.

March 10th- Streams in the Desert by L.B. Cowman

My righteous one will live by faith. (Hebrews 10:38)

Often our feelings and emotions are mistakenly substituted for faith. Pleasurable emotions and deep, satisfying experiences are part of the Christian life, but they are not the essence of it. Trials, conflicts, battles and testings lie along the way and are to be counted not as misfortunes but rather as part of our discipline.

In all of these various experiences, we are to rely on the indwelling of Christ in our hearts, regardless of our feelings, as we walk obediently before Him. And this is where many Christians get into trouble. They try to walk by feelings rather than by faith.

A believer once related that it seemed as if God had totally withdrawn Himself from her. His mercy seemed completely gone. Her loneliness lasted for six weeks, until the heavenly Lover seemed to say to her, "You have looked for Me in the outside world of emotions, yet all the while I have been waiting inside for you. Meet Me now in the inner chamber of your spirit, for I am there."

Be sure to distinguish between the fact of God's presence and the feeling of the fact. It is actually a wonderful thing when our soul feels lonely and deserted, as long as our faith can say, "I do not see You, Lord, nor do I feel Your presence, but I know for certain You are graciously here- exactly where I am and aware of my circumstances." Remind yourself again and again with these words: "Lord, You are here. And though the bush before me does not seem to burn, it does burn. I will take the shoes from my feet, 'for the place where [I am] standing is holy ground'". Exodus 3:5 London Christian

Trust God's Word and His power more than your trust your own feelings and experiences. Remember, your Rock is Christ, and it is the sea that ebbs and flows with the tides, not Him. Samuel Rutherford

Keep your eyes firmly fixed on the infinite greatness of Christ's finished work and His righteousness. Look to Jesus and believe- look to Jesus and live! In fact, as you look to Him, unfurl your sails and bravely face the raging storms on the sea of life. Do not exhibit your distrust by staying in the security of the calm harbor or by sleeping comfortably through your life of ease. Do not allow your life and emotions to be tossed back and forth against each other like ships idly moored at port. The Christian life is not one of listless brooding over our emotions or slowly drifting our keel of faith through shallow water. Nor is it one of dragging our anchor of hope through the settling mud of the bay, as if we were afraid of encountering a healthy breeze.

Sail away! Spread your sail toward the storm and trust in Him who rules the raging seas. A brightly colored bird is safest when in flight. If it's nest is near the ground or if it flies too low, it exposes itself to the hunter's net or trap. In the same way, if we cower in the lowlands of feelings and emotions, we will find ourselves entangled in a thousand nets of doubt, despair, temptation and unbelief. "How useless to spread a net in full view of ALL THE BIRDS!" (Proverbs 1:17) "Put your hope in God" (Psalm 42:5) J.R. Macduff

When I cannot feel the faith of assurance, I live by the fact of God's faithfulness. Matthew Henry

PRAY WITHOUT CEASING

"Pray without ceasing" (1 Thessalonians 5:17). There is a great difference between prayer and the life of prayer. Almost everyone prays, but very few pray without ceasing. This is the habit of devotion. This is the altar of incense ever burning in the Holy Place. This is the fragrance of a heart that lives in the presence of the Holy One, and breathes the very life of God. This is the deep undertone of a sanctified life. It is from this that the sweetness, the gladness, the holiness, and the helpfulness come. Lord, teach us the habit of prayer, the prayer that springs spontaneously from the heart, and which neither secular duty, satanic temptation, nor the waves of sorrow, can interrupt, but which is only stimulated by the things that try us, until every experience becomes transformed into an occasion for communion and fellowship with God.

--A. B. Simpson

The Power of the Cross by Stuart Townend & Keith Getty

Verse 1
Oh to see the dawn of the darkest day
Christ on the road to calvary
Tried by sinful men, torn and beaten then
Nailed to a cross of wood

Chorus 1
This the pow’r of the cross
Christ became sin for us
Took the blame, bore the wrath
We stand forgiven at the cross

Verse 2
Oh to see the pain written on Your face
Bearing the awesome weight of sin
Ev’ry bitter thought, ev’ry evil deed
Crowning Your bloodstained brow

Verse 3
Now the daylight flees, now the ground beneath
Quakes as its maker bows his head
Curtain torn in two, dead are raised to life
‘Finished!’ the vict’ry cry.

Verse 4
Oh to see my name written in the wound
For through Your suf‘fring I am free
Death is crushed to death, life is mine to live
Won through Your selfless love

Chorus 2
This the pow’r of the cross
Son of God slain for us
What a life, what a cost
We stand forgiven at the cross

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubGCISQQ7Zo

Psalm 46:5"God is in the midst of her, she will not be moved." When God is the center of a soul, although disasters may crowd in on all sides and roar like the waves of the sea, there is a constant calm within. The world can neither give nor take away this kind of peace. What is it that causes people to shake like leaves today at the first hint of danger? It is simply the lack of God living in their soul, and having the world in their hearts.- Streams in the Desert January 29th

Rest

Several months ago when Nick was working in Aiken, he was having a very difficult time. He hated either staying there all night or being at the least an hour and half away from us. I have a little plastic box shaped like a loaf of bread, called the Bread of Life. In this Bread of life are Bible verses. One day, I withdrew the verse, "My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest." Exodus 33:14.

I put the little verse on Nick's bedside table. A reminder that Jesus is always with Him and when He trusts in Him, he will find rest.

That little verse stays on Nick's table.

A few weeks ago, I ordered Mrs. L.B. Cowmans devotional book, Springs in the Valley. I've read some of it but the devotional book I read everyday is Streams in the Desert that she also wrote.

This morning, I was reading some of Springs when I decided to read February 17th, Nick's birthday. Isn't this SO like God?

Springs in the Valley by Mrs. L.B. Cowman
February 17th

"My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest." Exodus 33:14.

What is rest?

To step out of self-life into Christ-life; to lie and let Him lift you out of it; to fold your hands close and hide your face on the hem of His garment; to let Him lay His cooling, soothing, healing hands upon your soul and draw all the hurry and fever from it's veins; to realize that you are not a mighty messenger, an important worker of His, full of care and responsibility, but only a little child with a Father's gently bidding to heed and fulfill; to lay your busy hands and ambitions confidently in His hands, as a child brings it's broken toys at his mother's call; to serve Him by waiting; to praise Him by saying, "Holy, Holy, Holy;" to cease to hurry, so you may not lose sight of His face; to learn to follow Him and not to run ahead of orders! To cease to live in self and for self, and to live in Him and for Him; to love His honor more than your own; to be a clear medium for His life-tide to shine and glow through. This is consecration, this is rest.

Thou sweet, beloved will of God
My anchor ground, my fortress hill
My spirit's silent, fair abode,
In Thee I hide me and am still.

Thou beautiful, sweet will, my God,
Holds fast in its sublime embrace
My captive will, a gladsome bird,
Prison'd in such a realm of grace.

Upon God's will I lay me down,
As child upon it's mother's breast
No silken couch, nor softest bed,
Could ever give me such deep rest.
-Tersteegen

Death, where is thy sting?

In an email to a friend about death.


"I don't think one ever gets over a physical death. I don't think we are meant to. God created us NOT knowing death so death is actually unnatural to us. I know that sounds kind of odd but think about it. When God created Adam and Eve, He didn't create them to die but to live. It was their sin that caused them to come to know death. They actually experienced TWO deaths. A spiritual death and a physical death. Just like God is a triune God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) so we are triune, we are body (flesh, blood and bones), soul (mind, will and emotions) and spirit (conscienceness of God, intuition of God and communion with God). He breathed in them His breath of Life, His Spirit, which created a spirit in them. When they sinned, His Spirit left them and their spirit...died. So their children, (all of us), are born with dead spirits. If you read John 3, Jesus tells Nicodemas that the spirit is born of the Spirit, born again. What was dead (our spirit) is now made alive. When we trust and believe in Jesus, He places His Spirit in us and makes our spirit alive. Romans 6 is great about all of this. So we are back (reconciled, reunited) to where we should have been originally (before the fall). We are now natural. But sin has it's consequences and our physical body will still die. But we will never experience real death because of Jesus..who He is, what He has done for us (reconciled us to God, reunited with God, redeemed our soul)..He brought us back to the right relationship with God. It is our soul, our soul is our mind (thinker), will (chooser) and emotions (feeler), with which we choose to believe in Jesus...John 3:16.

But the gospel is so much more than God rescuing us from the dominion of darkness and transferring us in the kingdom of His Son. (Colossians 1:13).

Check out Galatians 2:20 and Colossians 1:26-27. It was revealed to Paul that not only did Jesus die for us and rise for us (overcome sin and death)....He places His very Life inside of us. That how we are His body. His physical body. The church, His people, are His physical body! He dwells within us. John 15.

Amen and amen! That is how we live this Christian life! Apart from Him, we can do nothing. He lives it through us. In and through us. Wow!"

From Streams in the Desert, January 18th

If there is a great trial in your life today, do not acknowledge it as defeat. Instead continue by faith to claim the victory through Him who is able to make you "more than conquerors" (Romans 8:37), and a glorious victory will soon be apparent. May we learn that in all the difficult places God takes us (or allows us to go), He is giving us opportunities to exercise our faith in Him that will bring about blessed results and greatly glorify His name.

Only the soul that knows the mighty grief
Can know the mighty rapture. Sorrows come
To stretch out spaces in the heart for joy.

From Streams in the Desert, January 16th

A furious squall came up. (Mark 4:37)

Some of life's storms- a great sorrow, a bitter disappointment, a crushing defeat- suddenly come upon us. Others may come slowly, appearing on the uneven edge of the horizon no larger than a person's hand. But trouble that seems so insignificant spreads until it covers the sky and overwhelms us.

Yet it is in the storms that God equips us for service. When God wants an oak tree, He plants it where the storms will shake it and the rains will beat down upon it. It is in the midnight battle with the elements that the oak develops its rugged fiber and becomes the king of the forest.

When God wants to make a person He puts Him into some storm. The history of humankind has always been rough and rugged. No one is complete until he has been out into the surge of the storm and has found the glorious fulfillment of the prayer "O God, take me, break me, make me."

The beauties of nature come after the storm. The rugged beauty of the mountain is born in a storm, and the heroes of life are the storm-swept and battle-scarred.

You have been in the storms and swept by the raging winds. Have they left you broken, weary, and beaten in the valley or have they lifted you to the sunlit summits of a richer, deeper, more abiding manhood or womanhood? Have they left you with more sympathy for the storm-swept and the battle-scarred?

The oriental shepherd always walked ahead of his sheep. He was always out in front. Any attack upon the sheep had to take him into account first. Now God is out in front. He is in our tomorrows, and it is tomorrow that fills people with fear. Yet God is already there. All the tomorrows of our life have to pass through Him before they can get to us.- F.B. Meyer

God is in every tomorrow,
Therefore I live for today,
Certain of finding at sunrise,
Guidance and strength for my way;
Power for each moment of weakness,
Hope for each moment of pain,
Comfort for every sorrow,
Sunshine and joy after rain.

My Mom

I have missed my mom more in the last few weeks than I have in years. Oh, I miss her. There are times I lament over the fact that I never really knew her. I didn't know her favorite color, or even her eye color for that matter. I have very few pictures of her. I miss that my children have never had a grandmother that picked them up from school, stayed with them when they were sick, took them out and bought them an ice cream. I was 9 when Mom died and I missed a lot of mothering but my kids have never had a doting grandmother.

I question God, why couldn't things be different? Sorrow truly overwhelms me right now. I am desperately sad. But even in this sadness, I know...surely...I know...God has bigger things in store for what is causing me to miss my mom. I can hardly handle the situation. God has and is stripping away many things not of Him. I don't like WHO I am and how I behave because of this situation. It's like everything has turned me upside down and inside out.

I am the type I avoid whatever the situation is causing me so much inner chaos. This particular situation I do not speak of unless I have to. I am filled with such despair over it that I will not even put it out publicly what is going on. It's not a bad thing. To some it's wonderful. To me...I am horrified of the great change coming. And yes, it is coming. To some it's so silly how I am reacting. I know that I am not allowing Jesus to live in and through me.

I miss my mom. Why couldn't my mom and dad have a long married life together? Why couldn't we be celebrating their 40th anniversary this year instead of the 31st anniversary of her death? Why?

I am stronger than this because I have true Strength inside of me. I know I am letting my feelings and emotions overwhelm me. I know I am not fixing my eyes on Jesus but on the circumstance. I know all of that. But right now, I just WANT to mourn and miss my mom and what could have been.

January 10th- Streams in the Desert by L.B. Cowman

Paul and his companions...[were] kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia. (Acts 16:16)

It is interesting to study the way God extended His guidance to these early messengers of the Cross. It consisted mainly in prohibiting their movement when they attempted to take a course other than the right one. When they wanted to turn to the left, toward Asia, He stopped them. When they sought to turn to the right, toward Bithynia in Asia Minor, He stopped them again. In his later years, Paul would do some of his greatest work in that very region, yet now the door was closed before him by the Holy Spirit. The time was not yet ripe for the attack of these apparently impregnable bastions of the kingdom of Satan. Apollos needed to go there first to lay the groundwork. Paul and Barnabas were needed more urgently elsewhere and required further training before undertaking this responsible task.

Beloved, whenever you are in doubt as to which way to turn, submit your judgment absolutely to the Spirit of God, asking Him to shut every door but the right one. Say to Him, "Blessed Spirit, I give to You the entire responsibility of closing every road and stopping every step that is not of God. Let me hear Your voice behind me whenever I 'turn aside to the right or to the left' [Deut. 5:32]."

In the meantime, continue along the path you have already been traveling. Persist in your calling until you are clearly told to do something else. O traveler, the Spirit of Jesus is waiting to be to you what He was to Paul. Just be careful to obey even the smallest nudging or warning. Then after you have prayed the prayer of faith and there are no apparent hindrances, go forward with a confident heart. Do not be surprised if your answer comes in doors closing before you. But when doors are shut to the right and to the left, an open road is sure to lead to Troas. Luke waits for you there, and visions will point the way to where vast opportunities remain open, and faithful friends are waiting. from Paul, by F.B. Meyer

Is there some problem in your life to solve,
Some passage seeming full of mystery?
God knows, who brings the hidden things to light.
He keeps the key.

Is there some door closed by the Father's hand
Which widely opened you had hoped to see?
Trust God and wait- for when He shuts the door
He keeps the key.

Is there some earnest prayer unanswered yet,
or answered NOT as you had thought 'twould be?
God will make clear His purposes by and by.
He keeps the key.

Have patience with your God, your patient God,
All wise, all knowing, no long lingerer He,
And of the door of all your future life,
He keeps the key.

Unfailing comfort, sweet and blessed rest.
To know of EVERY door He keeps the key.
That He at last when just HE sees is best,
Will give it THEE.

Anonymous

The "Exchanged" Life

Association of Exchanged Life Ministries
Promoting awareness of the Believer’s Liberated Life in Christ

Did you realize that the "Exchanged Life"...
• is not a new teaching.
• is not sinless perfection.
• is not a life of passivity.
• is not a self-help teaching.
• is not an undisciplined life.
• is not a second work of grace.
• is not a counseling technique.
• is not an improved "old man."
• is not in any way deifying man.
• is not instant change in behavior.
• is not a formula for self to imitate Christ.
• is not peace through changed circumstances.
• is not dying to self (wiping out our personality).
• is not a guarantee that circumstances will improve.
• is not overlooking or approving sinful behavior (promoting license).
• is not a guarantee that emotions will line up consistently with truth.

Entire surrender to Jesus is the secret of perfect rest. Giving up one's whole life to Him, for Him alone to rule and order it; submitting to be led and taught, to learn of Him; abiding in Him, to be and do only what He wills- these are the conditions of discipleship without which there can be no thought of maintaining the rest that was bestowed on first coming to Christ. The rest is in Christ and not something He gives apart from Himself, and so it is only in having Him that the rest can really be kept and enjoyed.-

Andrew Murray, Abide in Christ

January 2nd- Streams in the Desert by L.B. Cowman

Ezekiel 41:7 (New American Standard Bible)

7 The side chambers surrounding the temple were wider at each successive story. Because the structure surrounding the temple went upward by stages on all sides of the temple, therefore the width of the temple increased as it went higher; and thus one went up from the lowest story to the highest by way of the second story.

Still upward be your onward course;
For this I pray today;
Still upward as the years go by,
And seasons pass away.

Still upward in this coming year,
Your path is all untried;
Still upward may you journey on,
Close by your Savior's side.

Still upward although sorrow come,
And trials crush your heart;
Still upward may they draw your soul,
With Christ to walk apart.

Still upward till the day shall break,
And shadows all have flown;
Still upward till in Heaven you wake,
And stand before the throne.


We should never be content to rest in the mists of the valley when the Mount Tabor awaits us. How pure is the dew of the hills, how fresh is the mountain air, how rich the food and drink of those who dwell above, whose windows look into the New Jerusalem! Many saints are content to live like people in coal mines, who never see the sun. Tears sadden their faces when they could be anointed with heavenly oil. Ia m convinced that many believers suffer in a dungeon when they could walk on a palace roof, viewing the lush landscape and Lebanon. Wake up, believers, from your lowly condition! Throw away your laziness, sluggishness, coldness, or whatever is interfering with your pure love of Christ. Make Him the Source, the Center, and the One who encompasses every delight of your soul. Refuse to be satisfied any longer with your meager accomplishments. Aspire to a higher, a nobler, and a fuller life. Upward to heaven! Nearer to God!- Charles H. Spurgeon

I want to scale the utmost heights,
And catch a gleam of glory bright;
But still I'll pray, till heaven I've found,
Lord, lead me on to higher ground!

Not many of us are living our best. We linger in the lowlands because we are afraid to climb the mountains. The steepness and ruggedness discourage us, so we stay in the mist of the valleys and never learn the mystery of the hills. We do not know what is lost by our self-indulgence, what glory awaits if we only have the courage to climb, or what blessings we will find if we will only ascend the mountains of God! J.R.M.

Too low they build who build beneath the stars.

January 1st- Streams in the Desert by L.B. Cowman

Deuteronomy 11:11-12 (New American Standard Bible)

11"But the land into which you are about to cross to possess it, a land of hills and valleys, drinks water from the rain of heaven,

12 a land for which the LORD your God cares; the eyes of the LORD your God are always on it, from the beginning even to the end of the year.

Today we stand at the threshold of the unknown. Before us lies a new year, and we are going forward to take possession of it. Who knows what we will find? What new experiences or changes will come our way? What new needs will arise? In spite of the uncertainty before us, we have a cheerful and comforting message from our heavenly Father: "The LORD your God cares for [it]; the eyes of the LORD...are continually on it from the beginning of the year to its end."

The Lord is to be our Source of supply. In Him are springs, fountains, and streams that will never be cut off or run dry. To those who are anxious comes the gracious promise of our heavenly Father: If He is the Source of our mercies, mercy will never fail us. No heat or drought can dry the "river whose streams make glad the city of God" (Ps. 46:4).

Yet the land we are to possess is a land of valleys and hills. It is not flat or downhill. If life were always smooth and level, the boring sameness would weigh us down. We need the valleys and the hills. The hills collect the rain for hundreds of fruitful valleys. And so it is with us! It is the difficulty encountered on the hills that drives us to the throne of grace and brings the showers of blessings. Yes, it is the hills, the cold and seemingly barren hills of life that we question and complain about, that brings the showers. How many people have perished in the wilderness valley, buried under its golden sand, who would have thrived in the hills? And how many would have been killed the cold, destroyed or swept desolate of their fruitfulness by the wind, if not for the hills- stern, hard, rugged, and so steep to climb? God's hills are a gracious protection for His people against their foes!

We cannot see what loss, sorrow, and trials are accomplishing. We need only to trust. The Father comes near to take our hand and lead us on our way. It will be a good and blessed year!

He leads us on by paths we did not know;
Upward He leads us, though our steps be slow,
Though oft we faint and falter on the way,
Though storms and darkness oft obscure the day;
Yet when the clouds are gone,
We know He leads us on.

He leads us on through all the unquiet years;
Past all our dreamland hopes, and doubts and fears,
He guides our steps, through all the tangled maze
Of losses, sorrows, and o'er clouded days;
We know His will is done;
And still He leads us on.
Nicholas Ludwig Zinzendorf



I would like to add that although, yes, there are hills, valley, mountains that ARE in our life we do not have to let our soul get caught up in them. In other words, EXTERNALLY these things may be happening to us, INTERNALLY we rest, trust and abide in Christ. These valleys and hills will not shake Jesus nor those that rest in Him. We do not live in or under our circumstances but ABOVE then where Christ is.- SE