The Storm

Years ago, a pastor was on a long plane flight and resting very comfortably, when the warning lights came on, "Fasten your seat belts."  Then, after awhile, a calm voice said, "We shall not be serving the beverages at this time as we are expecting a little turbulence.  Please be sure your seat belt is fastened."

As he looked around the aircraft, it became obvious that many of the passengers were becoming apprehensive.  Later, the voice of the announcer said, "We are so sorry that we are unable to serve the meal at this time.  The turbulence is still ahead of us."

And then the storm broke.  The ominous cracks of thunder could be heard even above the roar of the engines. Lightning lit up the darkening skies, and within moments that great plane was like a cork tossed around on a celestial ocean.  One moment the airplane was lifted on terrific currents of of air; the next, it dropped as if it were to crash.

The pastor confessed that he shared the discomfort and fear of those around him. He said, "As I looked around the plane, I could see that nearly all the passengers were upset and alarmed.  Some were praying.  The future seemed ominous and  many were wondering if they would make it through the storm.

Then, the pastor suddenly saw a little girl.  Apparently the storm meant nothing to her. She had tucked her feet beneath her as she sat on her seat; she was reading a book and everything within her small world was calm and orderly.  Sometimes she closed her eyes, then she would read again; then she would straighten her legs, but worry and fear were not in her world. When the plane was being buffeted by the terrible storm, when it lurched this way and that, as it rose and fell with frightening severity, when all the adults were scared half to death, that marvelous child was completely composed and unafraid." The minister could hardly believe his eyes.

It was not surprising therefore, that when the plane finally reached its destination and all the passengers were hurrying to disembark, the pastor lingered to speak to the girl whom he had watched for such a long time.  Having commented about the storm and behavior of the plane, he asked why she had not been afraid.

The sweet child replied, "Sir, my Dad is the pilot, and he is taking me home."


Physical, mental, financial, domestic and may other storms can easily and quickly darken our skies and throw our plane into an apparently uncontrollable moment.  We have all known such times, and let us be honest and confess, it is much easier to be at rest when our feet are on the ground than when we are being tossed about a darkened sky.

Let us remember:
OUR FATHER IS THE PILOT
HE IS IN CONTROL AND HE IS TAKING US HOME!!!!!!!

Isaiah 43.
Author unknown

When your faith is challenged

 Martin Luther was one of the great religious reformers of the 16th century.  His faith was challenged many times.  The following is a response to the devil when the enemy accused of being a sinner.

"When the devil accuses us and says, "You are a sinner and therefore damned,' we should answer, 'Because you say I am a sinner, I will be righteous and saved.'  'No,' says the devil, 'you will be damned,'  And I reply, 'No, for I fly to Christ, who gave Himself for my sins.  Satan, you will not prevail against me when you try to terrify me by setting forth the greatness of my sins and try to bring me into heaviness, distrust, despair, hatred, contempt and blasphemy against God.  On the contrary, when you say I am a sinner, you give me armor and weapons against yourself, so that with your own sword I may cut your throat and tread you under my feet, for Christ died for sinners.  As often as you accuse that I am a sinner, so often you remind me of the benefit of Christ my Redeemer, on whose shoulders, and not on mine, lie all my sins.  So when you say I am a sinner, you do not terrify me but comfort me immeasurably."

I love it.  Satan lost.  Salvation is ours and we can stand up and proclaim from the roof tops, "It is finished"  Jesus won the battle and we are to stand and occupy until the Lord comes again. The earth is the Lord's and the fullness there of.  Jesus won back what Adam lost. The Holy Spirit is with us and in us to stand fast in the truth.  The enemy hates us, and that is a good thing.  The Lord is our protection and on our side.(Psalm 91)  The devil has NO authority over us.  We belong to the Lord Jesus and to Him alone. Rise up church and proclaim our God is great and greatly to be praised.  He is above all gods. There is no one but OUR GOD!  May He continue to enlarge our hearts to contain more and more of Him for the glory of God, and turn America back to Himself.

An Angel Unaware?

A very dear sister in the Lord and I have been sharing in a forty day journey of seeking the presence of the Lord, by fasting from sugar, desserts and walking thirty minutes four times a week. We were on our thirty fourth day when this truly happened to her.  You be the judge.

"I went to the park that I have been going to for weeks now to walk after work.  I started walking and was just plain NOT wanting to do this. I even said to myself," I am only going around this one time and will have to figure out something else".  As I walked I said out loud, "Jesus, please help me get through this'.  I kept walking. As I was coming to the finish line of my first lap, out of nowhere this woman walks up to me, starts talk with me, and walks with me.  She talked to me about everything under the sun and before I knew it, I had been around the park and finished my walk.  I told her how nice it was to walk with her and wished her God's blessings.  As I went to get in my car, suddenly I could not see her. Perhaps something could have been blocking my view. I couldn't be sure. It has been interesting to me how every day when I have walked in this park, people just pass by and say hello. 

 I have been marveling all night that God would do this for me.  My heart says, "Jesus, sent me an angel!"


Hebrews 13:2 says, "Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares."  You never know these days.  There are angels all around us all the time.  They love to hear us worship and praise the Lord, and will join us in our holy praise.  We may not see them, although some people have. But the Word of God says,"Are they not all ministering spirits (angels) sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?"
We are not to worship the angels, but, they have been sent to us in times when we are in serious trouble and we don't even know that they are angels. Psalms 34:7 says, "The Angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear (worship) Him." 

The color is RED.

Have you ever wondered how our Heavenly Father can possibly sees His children through Christ colored glasses? If you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, the following is an amazing story to demonstrate this truth. 

Once there was this farmer, who bought an expensive crate of baby chicks hoping that they would produce abundantly healthy eggs. He diligently cared for his little chicks as they grew to maturity.  However, when they started to lay eggs , the farmer had a serious problem!  For some reason, if one of the hens had any appearance of blood showing, all of the other chickens would start to "peck it to death".  The farmer was so frustrated and could not figure out why this was happening.  He was losing money because the chickens weren't laying eggs like they were suppose to. Then he thought, if the chickens see blood and get all freaked out, why don't I change the light bulbs to red and put red cellophane in the windows? So, the farmer made the entire interior of the hen house, red.  His problem was solved.  It was amazing. The chickens all settled down without any fear of being "picked upon" and his egg production increased immensely


I have often wondered how it must grieve the Holy Spirit  to hear God's children  still "picking on each other".  Were we not purchased at great expense by the blood of Jesus to cover our sins? Yet  at times, we still don't get it.  How gracious and patient God is with us as we continue to mature in His image and likeness. The way we act at times with one another, it is hard to imagine that the Father sees us  "through  Christ colored glasses", but He does, and the color is RED.  Amazing, isn't it. I am very grateful for the mercy and forgiveness of our Lord. He doesn't deal with us as our sin deserves.  We have a great God and a great salvation.

Jehovah Jireh, Our Provider

If you have ever been out of work or living from pay check to pay check, I would like to share with you my Jehovah Jireh. He is amazing how He provides for His children.

My husband and I experienced our Jehovah Jireh, our provider, for the first time in 1979, when my husband was out of work. We were young believers at the time with very little savings. How were we going to make it?  I was scared. My husband was now a Christian and because the company that he worked for were Christians, he didn't want to cause the company any problems by raising the company's unemployment compensations expenses, so he signed off on unemployment benefits. The company did give him two weeks departing pay . It  kept food on the table. We found a bible verse that spoke to our hearts and we spoke it to ourselves every day ."I have never seen the Righteous forsaken nor His seed begging bread." (Psalm 37;23) It really kept us in faith.

My husband and I were in a neighborhood bible study at the time, when Roger was laid off from work.  We were so blessed to have faithful friends praying for us during this hard financial crisis. Christmas that year were gifts from Care and Share.  Our girls were still in elementary school and were very understanding with their father's financial situation.

Just at the time, when we were about to run out of money, one of the brothers in the bible study came to us and said, "I have just been blessed with a big raise and Jesus said 'if you see a brother in need and you can help, give to him.' " So he did just that. He reached into his pocket and handed Roger $200.00.  What amazing love. He went on to say he would like to give to us $200.00 a week until Roger got a job. Plus Roger could borrow his pick- up truck during the day to look for a job.  We only had one car at the time for the girls activities.  What a great blessing that was to encourage  our young faith.

  Our God was providing for us in a very tangible way.  Jehovah Jireh , our great provider, kept us in His provision for seven months until Roger found a job. One morning when I was getting into the car to drive the children to school, two bags of groceries had been left in the front seat.  The note read 'love Jesus'. Our seven year old daughter said, "Mommy does Jesus write like that?" As a family, it was good for us to experience this trial together and to witness God's promise, "I have been young and now I am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his children begging for bread." (Psalms 37:25)
 
Oh , there is so much I could tell you about Jehovah Jireh during that time, but this I would like to leave with you .  When God says in His word that He will never leave us or forsake us He really means it. One of my favorite Proverbs is 30:7-9, "Two things have I asked of You; deny them not before I die. Remove far from me falsehood and lies; give neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that needful for me. Lest I be full and deny You and say, Who is the Lord? Or lest I be poor and steal, and so profane the name of my God." He knows our needs and will not forsake us.

I believe that the Lord takes care of His own. Our heavenly Father is very generous and will not let His children go begging. The world doesn't understand His graciousness but, our Father's heart is for us  and will provide more than enough to gave back to Him and share with others His provisional love through finances.