1 Peter 1:24-25
Today the Message Is Silent
Perhaps a decade ago, a man sent me a message via Facebook, because he thought he might know some of my family from Rutherford County, NC from back in the 1940s, 50s, and 60s. As it turned out, this man, who I have known as Pastor Clyde, did know some of my family back in the days of their youth. He moved away from NC and spent his life pastoring in FL and TN. We became FB friends and shared stories and testimonies of life. He started checking in here and there, and every single morning from the very day I “met” him, he sent me an email titled, “Message From The Mountain.”
This morning the “Message” was missing from my inbox, and since that was so odd, I looked on FB and read that Pastor Clyde had gone to be with his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
I will miss him and the messages. They were not airy, feel-good, or even in-depth philosophical devotionals written by a minister with a huge following. Instead, each message was a deep heartfelt fresh Word, written by a man who passionately loved his Lord and loved and cared for his reader’s personal and spiritual lives.
From the hills of Tennessee, Pastor Clyde woke up each morning, got his coffee, and sat before his PC with his Bible. There he allowed the Holy Ghost to speak through him. He brought Words of exhortation and comfort, prophetic and teaching Words, very often Words of correction. His messages were driven by the eternal and unchanging Word of God – always!
On rare days, Pastor Clyde would give only a statement that the Holy Ghost didn’t give him anything to write for that day. “Maybe God wants to speak to you directly today,” he would add. And you know, I think I appreciated that honesty and humility and encouragement more than anything else. What a lesson!!!!
Thank you, Pastor Clyde, for reaching out to someone from your hometown, just because my name peaked your interest. Thanks for your years of caring and for serving our great God and our Savior, Jesus! What a divine connection it has been.
The “Message From The Mountain” has now gone silent, but I will take what God gave me in this last decade, and I will not only continue to move forward, but I will also do my best to run with all that was imparted. Maybe God wants to speak to me directly today.
Psalm 27:8
In the Closet
Below is an excerpt taken from a little booklet titled Helps to Holiness. Such a great teaching tonight by the author, S.L. Brengle, about waiting on the Lord.
Here I sit trying to honor our President’s request that we stay in so we can “flatten the curve” of the spread of this coronavirus. Here in the confines of my home though I am not alone… it is truly in this special place (my little prayer closet) that it is just me and God. There is no one to draw from, no one to compete with, no one for me to distract or to be distracted by. And still, even here, with God as my only companion and source, it is so hard to wait on Him.
But this was encouraging to me and made me search my heart.
David said, “My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from Him.” (Ps. 62:5); and again he declares: “I wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait, and in His name do I hope. My soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning” (Ps. 130:5); and he sends out this ringing exhortation and note of encouragement to you and me: “Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord” (Ps. 27:14).
The secret of all failures, and of all true success, is hidden in the attitude of the soul in its private walk with God. The man who courageously waits on God is bound to succeed. He cannot fail. To other men he may appear for the present to fail, but in the end they will see what he knew all the time: that God was with him, making him, in spite of all appearances, “a prosperous man.”
Jesus puts the secret into these words: “But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly” (Matt. 6:6).
Know, then, that all failure has its beginning in the closet, in neglecting to wait on God until filled with wisdom, clothed with power, and all on fire with love.
~ S.L. Brengle, Helps to Holiness
What does it mean to wait?
Wait – to remain inactive or in a state of repose, as until something expected happens; to remain neglected for a time; to be postponed or delayed; to be available or in readiness.
Looking at those definitions, I can easily find the reasons I have such a hard time. Over the last years, I have become a person that loves to do and to go. We can fill our lives with many things. Even very good things things can become a hinderance when we allow them to keep our bodies and our minds occupied at all times. The first day I deliberately stayed home, all I wanted to do was go, go, go though I had no where to go and needed nothing. Obviously I don’t like “remaining neglected” for any amount of time. Does anyone?
So how then do we wait?
By God’s grace and by making a deliberate decision to press in to the waiting.
I have to get in the posture and attitude of waiting. Oh yes, it will be so much easier to move on toward the next sight or sound in the adjacent room. It will be easy to jump on Facebook or Twitter and lose an hour or two there…but the moment I give in, I know I will begin that same old descent that leads to discouragement.
What will be the benefits of waiting?
WISDOM, POWER, FIRE with LOVE!
Give me the grace to wait upon You, Lord…in Jesus Name. Amen!
Luke 22:42
A Good Reason To Fast
A good reason to put fasting alongside your prayers!
And when they were come to the multitude, there came to him a certain man, kneeling `down to him, and saying,
Lord, have mercy on my son: for he is lunatic, and sore vexed: for ofttimes he falleth `into the fire, and oft into the water.
And I brought him to thy disciples, and they could not cure him.
Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be `with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him hither to me.
And Jesus rebuked the devil; and he departed out of him: and the child was cured from `that very hour.
Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we cast him out?
And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have `faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to `yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.
Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.
~ Matthew 17:14-21
Psalm 55:17
2 Corinthians 5:7
The Heavenly Calling
HEBREWS 3:1-6
Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus;
Who was faithful to him that appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house.
For this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who hath builded the house hath more honour than the house.
For every house is builded by some man; but he that built all things is God.
And Moses verily was faithful in all his house, as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after;
But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.
What does it mean to Partake –
to take or have a part or share along with others; participate (usually followed by in )
to receive, take, or have a share or portion (usually followed by of)
to have something of the nature or character (usually followed by of)
What is this heavenly calling?
This heavenly calling is intercession.
Why do I believe the heavenly calling is intercession?
Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. ~ Hebrews 7:25
Other words that struck me –
If – a condition, requirement, or stipulation
Confidence – full trust; belief in the powers, trustworthiness, or reliability of a person or thing
Rejoicing – the feeling or the expression of joy.
Hope – the feeling that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out for the best
