Divine Love and Human Need
June 30, 2007 at 7:00 am | In Awake My Heart, Christ, J. Sidlow Baxter | Leave a CommentDeep calleth unto deep. ~ Psalm 42:7
Enveloping me everywhere – the God I ache to find,
Yet cannot find Him anywhere – above, before, behind:
Nay, miracle of miracles – in human form He stands!
He calls me with a human voice, and sympathetic hands!
In Jesus the eternal One has come from heaven above,
To answer all my aching cry, with everlasting love!
~ J. Sidlow Baxter
Today, my prayer for you and I is that we will meditate on this.
Deep Unto Deep
June 29, 2007 at 10:22 pm | In Awake My Heart, Bible, Devotions | Leave a CommentDeep calleth unto deep. ~ Psalm 92:7
“Your Bible has no proofs that it is inspired,” said a sceptic to a godly farmer. “Maybe,” replied the happy rustic, “but it and me gets along fine without ‘em.”
But how, then, do you know it is the Word of God?” rejoined the sceptic. “I don’t know how I know,” said the farmer; “I just know. That Bible o’ mine talks.”
Take the time to meditate prayerfully and throughtfully on the Book. It WILL speak to you about itself far more impressively than any preacher ever could.
Today, my prayer for you and I is that we will do just that.
Answering Depths
June 29, 2007 at 7:05 am | In Awake My Heart, Christ, Christian, atonement | Leave a CommentDeep calleth unto deep . . . ~ Psalm 42:7
Note: This devotion is for June 28 — “Years ago, now, the Watchman Examiner reproduced the remarkable testimony of Lady Hope concerning Charles Darwin’s return to the Christian faith in the later months of his life. I wish everybody knew that the father of the modern theory of organic evolution had thus that the father had thus returned. He wistfully reflected ‘ I was a young man with unformed ideas. I threw out queries, suggestions; and to my astonishment the ideas took like wildfire.’ He asked Lady Hope would she address the servants, tenants, and some neighbors, at a little meeting the next day. ‘What shall I speak about?’ He replied, ‘Jesus Christ – and His salvation.’ In the end, convictions overcame opinions.”
Blogger’s Note: The above is directly from Awake, My Heart. More information about the Lady Hope story can be read here. It should be noted that there is much debate over if Lady Hope’s story was true or fabricated. Unfortunately, we will likely never know with certainty.
However, a similar story that is factual is that of Norma McCorvey; best known as “Jane Roe” in the 1973 Roe v. Wade lawsuit that recognized abortion as a Constitutional right. She later converted to Christianity and testified to congress in 1998 – stating the following:
It was my pseudonym, Jane Roe, which had been used to create the “right” to abortion out of legal thin air. But Sarah Weddington and Linda Coffee never told me that what I was signing would allow women to come up to me 15, 20 years later and say, “Thank you for allowing me to have my five or six abortions. Without you, it wouldn’t have been possible.” Sarah never mentioned women using abortions as a form of birth control. We talked about truly desperate and needy women, not women already wearing maternity clothes.
Today, my prayer for you and I is that let go of our earthly hardened opinions and know what is truth.
Waterspouts, Waves and Billows
June 28, 2007 at 11:30 pm | In Awake My Heart, God, faith, foregiveness | Leave a CommentDeep calleth unto deep at the noise of Thy waterspouts: all Thy waves and Thy billows are gone over me. ~ Psalm 42:7
Note: This devotion is for June 27 — “Why did the eternal Son of God leave the glories of heaven for the ignominy of that felon’s Cross? Why did He bleed to redeem us? It was because the deep of our human need called to the deep of His divine compassion. And does not the deep of each individual anguish find answer call in the deep of His loving sympathy?”
Today, my prayer for you and I is that we will know that however deep our suffering, God’s divine compassion is much deeper.
Our Hope Relflexively
June 28, 2007 at 10:09 pm | In Awake My Heart, Christ, Jesus, Serving the Lord | 1 CommentThe hope which is laid up for you in heaven. ~ Colossians 1:5
Note: This devotion is for June 26 — This devotion concludes a series on the idea of hope. We have discussed a lot of what hope is and isn’t and we’ve talked about the idea of what it will be like when we realize that hope in heaven.
Surely, any Christian knows that their hope is that which is in heaven – and it is securely safe from theft. No being or demon can take it away.
But what does that mean for us in the present? As the Apostle John says; “When He (Christ) shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is . . . And every man that hath this hope set upon HIM, purifieth himself even as He is pure. (I John 3:2,3). While we will be like Him in consummation, must we not grow to be like Him now?
What’s more, the “very glory of our hope should increase our pity for those who are without it.
Today, my prayer for you and I is not for either of us. It is for those who are without the hope we share.
Beyond the Stars
June 27, 2007 at 11:55 pm | In Awake My Heart, Christian, God, faith | Leave a CommentThe hope which is laid up for you in heaven. ~ Colossians 1:5
Note: This post is for June 25th’s devotion – Today’s devotion continues with the idea of our great hope in heaven. It goes on to present the perfection of a consummated victory and the perfect joy we will experience once we are there.
It really made me think of the Mercy Me song “I Can Only Imagine.” I have posted the video here below. Please take a few minutes to watch and meditate on the imagery they present. I suggest closing your eyes as you listen.
Today, my prayer for you and I is that we will imagine our hope that is there – “far beyond the clouds, and beyond the stars, it is there.”
The Golden Prospect
June 27, 2007 at 9:31 pm | In Awake My Heart, faith | Leave a CommentThe hope which is laid up for you in heaven. ~ Colossians 1:5
Note: This post is for June 24 – One show that my wife and I watch frequently is Prison Break. One character in the show is driven to be free by the prospects of reuniting with the love of his life – who had been pressured to enter into a marriage agreement with another man. While he is on the run, he receives help from a man in Mexico. The man has very little but helps out the escapee; who says something to the effect of “I hope I am not too late.”
The man responds by telling him that “Hope is for those who are not already living in grace.”
Baxter’s devotion for June 24 says much of the same thing – except points out that our hope is that which is in heaven.
“We shall do all we can to improve the world while we are in it; but the hope whihc our New Testament sets before us is above and beyond “this present world”, and we are not ashamed to say so.”
Today, my prayer for you and I is that we will remember our hope which is laid up for you in heaven.
Humbled…
June 27, 2007 at 9:17 pm | In Uncategorized | Leave a CommentBelow is a screenshot of the June 27, 2007 WordPress Blogs of the Day for the Growing Blogs category. On that day, there was a tremendous spike in visits to NOR and it culminated in pushing NOR to the number 3 category for the day.
Very humbled (and extremely encouraged) to say the least.
I’ve Been Away
June 26, 2007 at 9:32 pm | In Awake My Heart | Leave a CommentHave you missed NOR?
I’ve had one of those “down times” where I just couldn’t get the ambition to keep up this bolg. I’m going to start trying to catch up over the next coupld of days and hope to be back on track by Monday.
Prevailing Prayer
June 23, 2007 at 7:00 am | In Awake My Heart, Prayer | Leave a CommentThe effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. ~ James 5:16
There are many realities in our world that cannot be seen through telescopes or decided by mathematics.
God seeks the co-operation of free-willed intercessors to bring about the free-willed response of other human beings; and if the intercessor continues in earnest prayer, there comes a point when God can say in all righteousness against the powers of evil, “Should not this much-prayed-for soul be released?” – and the constraining power of the Holy Spirit becomes victorious in the soul of the one for whom we have prayed.
Today, my prayer for you and I is that we will be intercessors for many others.
Blog at WordPress.com. | Theme: Pool by Borja Fernandez.
Entries and comments feeds.
