Perseverance
By Gareth Rennie, South Africa
We are struggling Christians trying our best to stay pure.
Constantly battling against temptation, resisting its allure.
Sin seeks to plunge us back, making us more distressed.
Its pull and push cannot be easily suppressed.
Pleasing God I know will take more than just living by His Law.
For He has sent us His Son and by His sacrifice has saved us all.
God has saved us from the wrath of God that we rightly deserved.
By God’s grace and compassion we have been preserved.
Jesus Christ who knew no sin took on sin for all mankind.
Fully God yet fully Man Jesus came to purify our heart and mind.
We know that we are sinners struggling through this sinful world.
But yet our Father through His grace takes care of us in the present and tomorrow.
So yes, we will always battle with our sinful natures but we are not without help.
For we have Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior to aid us reach our heavenly home.
Yes, we used to live a life of lawlessness and on the sharp edge of Satan’s knife.
But now let us repent and by God’s mercy and grace receive eternal life.
Our Sovereign and powerful God is the Creator of all things
The time will come when God will cut away our sinful strings
For God will destroy this earth of pain, sorrow and sin by fire
We then will live with God for all eternity and no longer be plagued by our sinful desire.
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Loading ...ODJ: childhood again
The Lord protects those of childlike faith (v.6).
READ: Psalm 116:1-14
Until today, I thought Davy Crockett was merely a fictitious raccoon hunter. This afternoon, however, fact dislodged my fictitious understanding of the Tennessee native as I read a Crockett biography to my 6-year-old son and 5-year-old foster child.
With the two small boys sitting by my side, I learned that though many myths surround the “King of the Wild Frontier,” beneath the coonskin cap lived a real American hero—a longstanding member of the United States Congress, and a legendary soldier.
Among the most exhilarating gifts that accompany raising children are the opportunities that we, as adults, have to learn and discover. Through children, we have opportunities to master subjects we once considered dull, relish the messages in fairy tales, and delight in simplicity. In terms of faith, though, God doesn’t suggest that we return to thinking and reasoning as a child (1 Cor. 13:11). But He does exhort us to return to “childlike faith” and to simply trust in Jesus.
He longs for our expressions of faith to echo those of the psalmist who declared, “I love the Lord because He hears my voice and my prayer for mercy. Because He bends down to listen, I will pray as long as I have breath!” (Psalm 116:1-2).
The same God who “bends down to listen” to us experiences pleasure when we look up to Him. “O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, thank You for hiding these things from those who think themselves wise and clever, and for revealing them to the childlike. Yes, Father, it pleased You to do it this way!” (Matthew 11:25-26).
God desires that we once again view Him with credence versus skepticism, with trust instead of fear, and with hope rather than apprehension.
—Roxanne Robbins
How does your faith today parallel or differ from the confidence you had early in your walk with God? What needs to change for you to return to your childlike faith?
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(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5) Loading ...ODB: don’t forget
March 9, 2010
READ: Deut. 8:1-2,10-18
Beware that you do not forget the Lord your God by not keeping His commandments. —Deuteronomy 8:11
One of my favorite Far Side cartoons is captioned “Superman in his later years.” It shows the elderly Man of Steel perched on a window ledge, ready to leap, as he looks back and says, “Now where was I going?”
Forgetfulness happens to us all, and while our occasional lapses may be amusing or annoying, a lack of memory toward God can be disastrous.
With the people of Israel poised to enter the Promised Land, Moses challenged them to “remember that the Lord your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness” (Deut. 8:2) and to “beware that you do not forget the Lord your God by not keeping His commandments” (v.11).
Forgetting God can spring from: Testing (vv.2-4). God allowed His people to hunger and then provided manna. When we lack the necessities of life, it’s easy to feel that God has somehow forgotten us. Satisfaction (vv.10-11). Abundance or need may produce spiritual amnesia because both cause us to focus on ourselves, not on God who provides. Pride (vv.12-16). If prosperity brings a feeling of self-accomplishment, then we have forgotten God.
Humility, obedience, and praise help us remember God’s faithful provision and care. Let’s not forget to thank Him today for all He’s done. — David C. McCasland
Never let the abundance of God’s gifts cause you to forget the Giver.
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