Is a sinless life my comfort
No it is Christ and Christ alone
If my heart is right and I am yielding
God Himself will sanctify me
Since I cannot sanctify myself
Because Jesus has created me anew
And put me in and at rest
Sin is not what keeps me from peace
It is not seeking God that keeps it from me
I must not believe the accusations
Of the enemy
As I love God and continue to seek Him
And I continue to sin
Though I truly desire it not
This should not steal my joy in God
It should not take my peace
For great discipline does not bring
Peace that God wants for me.
If I commit very little sin
And no big ones
This is not peace
Christ is peace
Only Christ is peace
I longed to be rid of big sin
“If only that” I cried to the Lord
Then I would be at peace
I was wrong
God has peace for me through the sin
Peace from knowledge
The work is done
It is only God that brings peace
Not my actions
It is God Himself
The knowledge of Him
A sure knowledge that comes from
His Word and continuous
Fellowship with Him
Therein is found peace
IHS 1/31/14
by Bob withTo whom will I run
When I am troubled
Big or small
To whom, or what will I run
If I am fasting, whom or what do I crave
If my body is hungry
If I am thirsty
If I need to hear the voice
Of someone who loves me
If I need comfort
If I need to be held
If I need advice
If I need strength
If I need calm
If I need peace
If I need to laugh
If I need to cry
If I am burdened and
Need to be free
If the weight is too much
If my thoughts overwhelm me
If my body hurts or is sick
If I am sad
If I am confused
If I am in any need
To whom or what do I turn
May it always be you Lord
You have said of Yourself
“I AM That I AM”
Oh Lord you are everbecoming
And have been and ever are
Everything that I need
You are who I turn to
The answer is you Lord
Always it is you
IHS 1/31/14
by Bob withOnce there were three friends who decided to climb up a very high mountain. They agreed this would be fun and they agreed it would be a great challenge. As they journeyed up the mountain they had more time to just talk to each other, more than they had ever had before. The agreed that this was indeed a good idea. They agreed that it was one of the best times they had had in a long time. They learned that they could talk about any subject and after talking awhile, they would come to a conclusion of truth that they agreed upon. By the time they reached the top of the mountain, they had agreed upon many things and felt sure that they had found many answers to some of the tough questions of life. They were confident. They felt good. At the top of the mountain they were giddy about their great talks and also that they had climbed this great mountain together. They congratulated themselves on their great accomplishments. One of them noticed that there was a ledge protruding out beyond the sheer cliff of the mountain. They talked about whether they should, all of them at the same time, dare standing on that precarious looking ledge. They examined the ledge and agreed that it should support them. They had examined all the facts and agreed that it was truth that they would be safe, so they all boldly walked out onto the ledge. They stood at the edge of the ledge and were once again proud that they had come to a mutual agreement and the agreement was true. They were exhilarated at the thrill of being in this precarious situation in which they were safe, after all they had agreed. Suddenly the ledge snapped and they began to fall thousands of feet. As they fell, they yelled to each other, “But we had all agreed that the ledge would support us. We had agreed that it was true.” They all died at the bottom of the mountain.
Men agree on a lot of things and so proceed. Yet it is God’s plans that prove true. Make sure your ledge is true.
Proverbs 16:25 – There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death.
John 14:6 – Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
IHS 1-31-14
by Bob withRemember the story related in Matthew 14:22-33 about when Jesus was approaching the boat that the disciples were in? They were floating in the boat and Jesus was walking on water. Peter, bless his “Oh, Oh, let me do that too!” heart, he asked the Lord if he also could walk on water and Jesus told him to go ahead and walk to him. So Peter got out of the boat and started walking on water to the Lord! We later learn that he did it by faith in the Lord to keep him afloat. However, as he began to look at the rough seas that he was walking on, his focus changed from the Lord to the rough seas, so he began to sink until the Lord grabbed him so he could again, in the power of the Lord, walk on water back to the boat.
Because of these verses poor Peter has been the example of lacking faith. However, before he began to sink, he was exhibiting some awesome faith, I know I’ve never walked on water!
Skipping ahead to Acts 3:1-10 we find Peter and John going to the temple. This is after Pentecost where, in Jesus’s words, they received “power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.” Peter and John came upon a man who had been crippled since birth. The man could not walk. Peter looked at the lame man and told him “I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!” Wow! Peter didn’t say I will pray that the Lord will heal you and maybe He will. He said a powerful word of faith with a sure faith that God was going to perform a miraculous healing. He said “rise up and walk!” This was likely done in front of many people at the busy temple. If the man didn’t rise and walk, they would have ridiculed him. But Peter, in a sure faith, yielding to the unction of the Holy Spirit, was telling that man to get up and walk because God was healing him!
This Peter whose faith wavered in the dangerous sea, spoke with unwavering faith and the Lord healed the lame man. If Peter had had that same faith when on the sea, he would not have sank. Praise God that He had received “power” from the Holy Spirit and now had the faith Jesus had urged them all toward.
That gives us hope! 1 Corinthians 6:11 states that the Holy Spirit is doing the work of bringing us along to walk closer with God. He is remaking us to be more like Himself. Just as Peter in Acts 3 was not the same being as he was in Matthew 14, so the Lord is remaking us to be more like Him. One day we will be with the Lord, and the reworking of us will be complete. Be confident and be sure that our God will complete the work in us that He began. This is another sure thing from God. We don’t hope in the things of this world, but in the things that are of the Spirit. We hope in the eternal things of God and no-one can take those things from us. Rejoice Saints of God, our redemption is now, and proceeds, and is sure! Oh praise God for His power, love and faithfulness! Praise God!
IHS 1/26/14
by Bob withOn FB I often see Posts that people are listening to this or that song. Thought I’d let you know not what I’m listening to, but singing. It might be a little obscure? “When I get to heaven gonna walk with Jesus. When I get to heaven gonna see His face. When I get to heaven gonna talk with Jesus, saved by His wonderful grace! Because I’m saved! Saved! Wonderfully saved! Washed in the blood of the Lamb! Saved! Saved! Wonderfully saved! And I’m so glad I am hallelujah!” Now wasn’t that grand? Well, I’m going to sing the rest of it. I pray that God’s ever present joy well up in song with you!
Psalm 68:4 – Sing to God, sing in praise of His name, extol Him who rides on the clouds; rejoice before him—His name is the Lord.
IHS 1-18-14
by Bob withOne hour and two minutes very valuable minutes! Check out this video.
Gracious and sure is Your loving hand Almighty God
How wonderful are Your blessings
Fresh every morning they are
Their sweet aroma greets me as I wake
Wondrous and pungent like fresh cut flowers
I am refreshed as I breathe them in
You Almighty God are my sustenance
Like a hearty breakfast you energize me
A hot morning drink to remind me
Of the warmth of Your love
As dawn announces the day
It reminds me that Your love
Is more sure than the dawn
The sun peaking over the horizon
So beautiful and powerful
It chases away the darkness
And provides light for me to see
So Your Holy Spirit is powerful and sure
More sure than the rising sun
More sure than the rising sun
More sure than the rising sun
Does Your Spirit assure me
Today, as every day
You are with me
Terror of thoughts dreamed at night
Disappear in the light of Your love
Your love lights my way
Providing a sure path for my feet
And clear vision for my eyes
I have no confidence in my meager abilities
Only in Your abilities and Your love
Do I have confidence and peace
From You comes joy that circumstances
Cannot shake
Great and sure are You God
Somewhere in the background I am aware
Of the enemy screaming at me
So distant is the screams of the enemy
While I rest in Your presence
Listen to the comfort of your voice
And bask in Your love
Great are you God
Holy and Precious are you
In You Lord I do rest
Though the world rages
My heart is calm
Because of You Lord
My heart is calm
More sure than the rising sun
More sure than the rising sun
More sure than the rising sun
Is the love of God
Praise from my heart will rise
Unto the Lord
Surely praise from my heart will rise
Unto the Lord
IHS 1/6/14
by Bob withIsaiah 1:16-17 – 16 Wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight; stop doing wrong. 17 Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.
James 1:27 – Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
Matthew 25:31-46 – 31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. 34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ 37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ 40 “THE KING WILL REPLY, ‘TRULY I TELL YOU, WHATEVER YOU DID FOR ONE OF THE LEAST OF THESE BROTHERS AND SISTERS OF MINE, YOU DID FOR ME.’ 41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’ 44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’ 45 “HE WILL REPLY, ‘TRULY I TELL YOU, WHATEVER YOU DID NOT DO FOR ONE OF THE LEAST OF THESE, YOU DID NOT DO FOR ME.’ 46 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
Today I saw a picture of an Iraqi orphan girl. She had drawn a picture of a mommy on the sidewalk and then fell asleep on top of the picture of that mommy that she so desperately wanted. Devastating! Sometimes, I look at all I have and say “For what?” Seeing this picture of this little girl, or so many other tragic pictures like this one, on what do I place value? When I stand before God, where greed and selfishness do not stand, what will my excuse be? Because I am saved by grace I withheld compassion? Because He loves me is it okay that I enjoy all of God’s blessings while others that He loves starve for life’s necessities, most important of these, love. There are no excuses in heaven. No, I am certain I will be welcomed into His kingdom with open arms and at the same time, ashamed that I didn’t have enough of His love to lead a more spartan life that I might share practical love with others. I am speaking about me. This is my confession. Lord please re-make my selfish heart that withholds what I could give if I would sacrifice more, and I could sacrifice so very much more. Lord I enjoy the love you express to my spirit, my soul, and in all the practical ways like food to eat, drink to quench thirst, and a place to live. Forgive me for being a dam, rather than a conduit of your love, to so many who have greater needs than I do.
IHS 1/5/14
by Bob with
I’m finishing up the book “DOG MAN, An Uncommon Life on a Faraway Mountain”. It is the story of a Japanese man, Morie Sawataishi and how, in the face of strong Japanese tradition, he was a man who went against tradition and common expectations. The major part of his life was saving, loving and breeding the Northern Mountain dogs of Japan, the Akita.
What, from this book, I would like to share with you is a portion from the eighth chapter “Shiro”. Recounting a memory from a war that Morie and Kitako (his wife) refer to as shameful, Morie shares what impacted him deeply: “War? He’ll show you his diaries, date books, his assignment papers – he’s kept everything from his seven years of service, but these days Morie doesn’t want to talk about it much, except to say that while he saw many countryman die on the fronts of China – Nanjing and Shanghai – he never heard one Japanese soldier cry out ‘“Tennoheika Banzai”’, in praise of the emperor at their moment of death, the way they’d been trained to do.”
“They’d say ‘“Mother! ’’’ as they died, or they’d call out the name of a child,” Morie says. “That’s what I learned. No matter how patriotic and loyal you are, when you are dying, you express something from the deepest part of you- and call out to what you love most.”
His revelation rings true to me. Acts 20:59-60 – “59 While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60 Then he fell on his knees and cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he fell asleep.”
I remember hearing a tape, close to the time that my wife and I gave our lives over to the Lord. (Yes, I said a tape!) The tape was the memories of a survivor of a terrible plane accident at Tenerife, the largest island of the Canary Islands. The survivor related his memory of horror at what people were yelling out as they were dying. They cursed and took the name of the Lord in vain. He remembered how in the past people have said to him that they knew they should accept the Lord as their Savior, but they didn’t want to do so right away. They had said that at the moment before their death they would call out to Jesus in repentance and He would forgive them and they would go to heaven. What this survivor learned is that people don’t do that. Instead, they yell out what they have always yelled out in times of fear, anger or surprise. If they had trained their minds to swear and curse God, then in that instant when there was little or no time to think, their mind did what it had always done, swear and curse God. So in their last breath before seeing their maker, with their last words, they took His name in vain. They treated His name as if it were something filthy or common. What I remember about the story of “Terror at Tenerife” is that the “terror” was how these men could curse God and then be ushered into His presence. I still tremble with horror for those who face that fate. Oh how truly terrible!
I heard a teaching, many years ago, that our minds are like computers. What we put into them, stays there. What we put in is what comes out. Stories were related how old men, lost in dementia, could no longer be allowed to be around women. These men, no longer able to restrain themselves, have the filth of a lifetime of dirty thoughts pour out of them in ways that shock and embarrass their loved ones. Men who were thought to be of high moral integrity, including men thought to be of great faith, when the control was gone, their brain, their computer, spat out the filth they could formerly hide. Those who knew and loved them were lost to wonder what happened to these gentlemen who now are like ravenous lust driven animals. Who are these men who are now so filthy they could no longer safely be around unprotected women?
Galatians 6:7 – 7 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.
Proverbs 6:12-15 – 12 A worthless person, a wicked man, Walks with a perverse mouth; 13 He winks with his eyes, He shuffles his feet, He points with his fingers; 14 Perversity is in his heart, He devises evil continually, He sows discord. 15 Therefore his calamity shall come suddenly; Suddenly he shall be broken without remedy.
Luke 6:45 – A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.
So, in your moment of greatest desperation, perhaps as you breathe your last breath, who will you call out for? Who is it that you love? Who, or what is it, that is foremost on your mind. I pray that all of you would love God more than all else and in your dying moment, you would, like Stephen, look up to heaven, and call out to your greatest love, God. Then, you will be ushered into the presence of your greatest hope and your greatest love. Forever.
IHS 1/2/14
by Bob with1 Corinthians 15:49 – 49 And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall we bear the image of the heavenly man.
Want a New Year resolution that you can’t lose? How about the above? For those who have entrusted their eternity in Christ, for those who love Jesus above anything or anyone else, the above scripture is a sure thing. For those who trust that God will complete the work that He began in us, that He will provide for us, that He will protect us and that He will bring about the changes within us to make us like Him, that transformation will happen. Sure thing! He is doing the work and so we are assured that we shall bear His image. What higher goal is there than to dwell with God and by submitting to Him, which involves trust, being made by Him to be like Him? I hope and pray that daily I am increasingly more like Him. Though I fail in so many ways, I pray, and trust, that I, more and more every day, am slowly being made to bear His image. If we want to be like someone, anyone, there is no greater goal than to be like Christ. What is fabulous about that is that it is a sure thing! A sure thing! Praise God! Some of us will begin to look very much like Him while here on earth, some of, not as much (me!). Yet in that fast approaching day when He shall return, all of us that love Him will bear His image. The slow movers will bear it as fully as the fast developers. We will all bear His image and the work in us will be completed. Sure thing! In fact, even here on earth, if we love God with all that we are, at the end of this year, we will all be a little, or a lot, more like Christ. Never will we fully attain that transformation while we are here, but God has given us a sure thing. He will bring us home with Him and we will be completed by Him. Yes, a sure thing! Our job is to love Him and follow Him. Miraculous transformation of us? That’s His job. I’m glad it is! Praise God and walk in a sure thing, the love of God. Nothing better! Now that’s a resolution!
IHS 1/2/14
by Bob with