NECESSARY KNOWLEDGE Then they will know that I, the LORD their God, am with them, and that they, the house of Israel, are My people,’ declares the Lord GOD. Ezekiel 34:30 To be the Lord’s people is a great blessing, but to know that we are His is an even greater comfort. It’s one thing to hope that God is with us, but it’s another thing entirely to be assured of His presence. Faith saves us, but assurance satisfies us. We take God to be our God when we believe in Him, but we find joy when we know that He is ours and we are His. No believer should be content with merely hoping for salvation. We should seek the Lord for full assurance so that hope becomes certainty. Let us always focus on the grace of God. Assurance of faith cannot come from our good works but is a free gift without any strings attached. Let us not look inward for confidence, but always look to the Lord. As we see Jesus, we see our salvation. Lord, flood our hearts with Your love so that we are washed beyond the reach of doubt and fear. By Charles H. Spurgeon

What Cannot Be Uttered

 

What Cannot Be Uttered In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know how we ought to pray, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans too deep for words. Romans 8:26 Have you prayed and prayed... and prayed for someone, or a situation? And now, you've run out of words: after all these months and years, there are no more words to say, and yet the longing is still there. The intercessory burden is as great as it has ever been. The mountain has not moved, the situation has not changed, and the souls you claim for God are STILL not saved.  This isn't a failure of faith: we know that what we long for can only be accomplished in prayer! Therefore, we don't dare cease our praying, and yet... the words have run dry. This is when the Spirit steps up and prays on our behalf: converting that great, consuming burden into deeply spiritual intercession that only God Himself understands. "Oh God, oh God, oh GOD!" is a prayer that our loving Heavenly Father understands completely. He knows what you're praying about, He knows how much it matters to you, and He is listening intently. He understands every detail and nuance in those groans. It is good to pray in words. But it is also good, when we run out of words, to throw ourselves on God so that our whole being becomes a prayer. Sometimes we don’t understand, but we know that God is praying in us and through us.

THE CROSS UNDER THE LEAVES

 

THE CROSS UNDER THE LEAVES By Terry Wilson As I came across this cross lying in the dirt, behind our pond, a cross that once stood tall and proud, but is now lying in the dirt where I placed it earlier in the spring because I had to do some maintenance on the pond where that cross once stood. It is now nearly covered by fallen leaves. As I looked at it, I couldn’t help but think about how easily this can happen in our own lives. Sometimes, in the name of maintaining our lives, managing our responsibilities, dealing with our hardships, and navigating the storms and changing seasons, we slowly move the cross from its rightful place. Not necessarily intentionally, and certainly not always out of rebellion, but simply because life gets busy, burdens become heavy, and other things begin demanding our attention. And before we even realize it, the very thing that should remain at the center of our lives has been pushed to the side and nearly covered by everything else. But here’s what struck me: Even though the cross was nearly covered, it hadn’t moved. It was still there! Sometimes we need to stop, clear away the things that have accumulated in our lives, and bring our eyes back to the cross. Because the circumstances around us may change, the seasons may come and go, and the storms may leave us feeling buried, but Christ remains the same. God doesn’t move, we do. Ya see, I think the danger is that we can become so focused on maintaining everything around us that we neglect the very foundation upon which everything should be built. The leaves didn’t move the cross, it stayed put. The leaves simply accumulated around it, one at a time. And perhaps that’s how it happens with us, too. One disappointment, one hardship, one distraction, one compromise, and one busy season at a time. Maybe it’s time to clear away some leaves. Maybe it’s time to put the cross back where it belongs. Hebrews 12:2 tells us to be “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith.” Perhaps we all need to be careful that in our efforts to maintain our life, we don’t remove the very thing that gives our life its meaning. Because the cross should never become something we set aside while we tend to everything else. It must remain at the center of it all. Terry Wilson on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/terry.wilson.33671# Used with Permission

A CITY SET ON A HILL

 

A CITY SET ON A HILL In 1630, four ships with 700 Puritan immigrants set sail for “New England.” At that time, John Winthrop (who was a preacher and a lawyer) gave this prophetic sermon to the Puritan settlers. His sermon is just as relevant today as it was then: You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Matthew 5:14 Now the only way to avoid failure, and to provide for our posterity, is to follow the counsel of Micah 6:8 "to do justly, to love mercy, to walk humbly with our God." We must be knit together, in this work, as one man. We must approach one other in brotherly affection. We must be willing to abridge ourselves of our excess, for the supply of others’ necessities. We must commerce together in all meekness, gentleness, patience and liberality. We must delight in each other; make other’s conditions our own; rejoice together, mourn together, labor and suffer together as members of the same body. So shall we keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. The Lord will be our God, and delight to dwell among us, as his own people, and will command a blessing upon us. So that we shall see much more of his wisdom, power, goodness and truth, than formerly we have been acquainted with. We must consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us. So that if we shall deal falsely with our God, and so cause him to withdraw his present help from us, we shall be made a story and a by-word through the world. We shall open the mouths of enemies to speak evil of the ways of God. We shall shame God’s worthy servants, and cause curses upon us till we be consumed out of the good land where we are going. Beloved there is now set before us life and good, death and evil, in that we are commanded this day to love the Lord our God, and to love one another, to walk in his ways and to keep his Commandments, that we may live and be multiplied, and that the Lord our God may bless us. But if our hearts shall turn away, so that we will not obey, but shall be seduced, and worship other gods, and pleasures and profits, and serve them; it is propounded unto us this day, we shall surely perish out of the good land. Therefore, let us choose life that we, and our seed may live, by obeying His voice and cleaving to Him, for He is our life and our prosperity. John Winthrop, 1630 A.D., Abridged and updated.

MORSE CODE MASTERY

 

MORSE CODE MASTERY: TINY BEES CONFOUND EVOLUTION How many are Your works, O LORD! In wisdom You have made them all; the earth is full of Your creatures. Psalm 104:24 Bumblebees are tiny creatures most people overlook, but scientists just uncovered something remarkable about them. When researchers brought bees into a controlled lab setting to study how they learn, they did not give them flowers or scents. Instead, they gave them a totally unfamiliar challenge. The scientists used flashing lights that mimicked simple Morse-code patterns. One quick flash acted like a dot and one longer flash acted like a dash. Only one of these signals led to a sugary reward. Scientists have known for years that bees are quick learners. They can sort colors, scents, and patterns without much trouble. Telling time, however, did not seem possible. Timing shapes many parts of life, from movement to navigation, and most of what we understand about it comes from animals with much larger brains. That is why this experiment surprised so many researchers. These bees were not just reacting to brightness or location. They were analyzing duration itself, something scientists never expected to see in such a small creature. Yet the bees conquered the challenge with ease. They learned to recognize the difference between the dot-like flash and the dash-like flash, even though nothing like this exists in nature. And when the scientists moved the lights around to eliminate shortcuts, the bees continued to choose correctly using timing alone. Their tiny God-designed minds were measuring duration, storing information, recalling the rule, and applying it with precision. This is not random instinct. This is purposeful design. Secular scientists rushed to call this a “surprising evolutionary ability,” but Scripture provides the real foundation for understanding what we see. God created the flying creatures on Day Five and equipped them with learning abilities far beyond what they would ever need in a world of flowers and nectar. The bees carry built-in intelligence, flexibility, and problem-solving that glorifies the One who made them. Psalm 104 declares that God made His works with wisdom. When a bumblebee solves a man-made Morse-style puzzle, it is not evolution whispering. It is creation shouting. Biblical Creation on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/1mill.creationist Used with Permission