Two Baskets

For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:10 NIV

Did you know that God has put good things within you that He wants you to give away to others? Imagine that within your spirit God has placed two baskets. As you begin your day, the Holy Spirit deposits in one basket what God wants you to give away that day. Each day the number and type of things deposited in your basket may vary, depending upon the needs that God wants you to touch and the people He wants you to bless.

Often, what the Holy Spirit deposits in your basket is a mystery. You do not know exactly what God has in mind for you during a day. The good news is that He doesn’t ask you to try and figure it out or run around in circles trying to make everyone happy or meet everyone’s needs. What He does want you to do is to be sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit and to respond to Him in simple faith and obedience.

As you go through your day, you may discover that the Holy Spirit has deposited within your basket a prayer He wants you to pray, a word of encouragement He wants you to speak, a blessing He wants you to give, or an act of kindness He wants you to extend.

Whatever it is that the Holy Spirit has deposited in your basket is what He desires for you to give away during your day. When you go to bed at night, it is good to have an empty basket. Nothing needs to be carried over, because the Holy Spirit will make new and fresh deposits each morning.

Earlier, I said there were two baskets that God has placed in your spirit. The second basket does not contain the things you give away during the day but the things that you receive from God that enrich your life and refresh your spirit. When you bless others, you are blessed; when you give out, you receive; when you empty yourself, you are filled. Consider the following Scriptures as ways God fills your other basket:

He who refreshes others will himself be refreshed. Proverbs 11:25 NIV

Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Luke 6:38 NIV

(Jesus said) “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.” John 4:32 NIV

 

Great Quotes

And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. 1 John 4:16

We are His beloved. Let us but feel that He has set His love upon us, that He is watching us from those heavens with tender interest, that He is working out the mystery of our lives with solicitude and fondness, that He is following us day by day as a mother follows her babe in his first attempt to walk alone, that He has set His love upon us, and, in spite of ourselves, is working out for us His highest will and blessing, as far as we will let Him, and then nothing can discourage us.
-A.B. Simpson

Jesus is king for us, priest for us, and prophet for us. Whenever we read a new title for our Redeemer, let us appropriate Him as ours in that name also. He is the Shepherd, the Captain, the Prince, and the Prophet. Jesus has no dignity which He will not employ for our exaltation and no prerogative which He will not exercise for our defense. His fullness in the Godhead is our unfailing, inexhaustible treasure house. All His thoughts, emotions, actions, utterances, miracles, and intercessions were for us. He trod the road of sorrow on our behalf and has given us as His heavenly legacy the full results of all the labors of His life. –C.H. Spurgeon

His command is the sure guarantee that He will give what He desires us to possess.
-Andrew Murray

Fret Buster #39

“Cast your burden upon the Lord, and He shall sustain you.” Psalm 55:22

“Worry, if carried to excess, has the nature of sin in it. The precept to avoid worry is repeated frequently by our Savior. It is reiterated by the apostles. It is a principle which cannot be neglected without involving transgression. We labor to take on ourselves our weary burden, as if He were unable or unwilling to take it for us. He who cannot calmly leave his affairs in God’s hand is very likely to be tempted to use wrong means to help himself. Anxiety makes us doubt God’s lovingkindness, and our love for Him grows cold. We feel mistrust and grieve the Spirit of God. If we cast each burden as it comes on Him and we are “careful for nothing” because He undertakes to care for us, it will keep us close to Him.” - C.H. Spurgeon

Fret Buster #40

“The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day.” Exodus 1

“Enough for that day.” That word completely takes away all care for tomorrow. Only today is yours; tomorrow is the Father’s. Manna, as your food and strength, is given only by the day; to faithfully fill the present is your only security for the future. His presence and grace enjoyed today will remove all doubt as to whether you can entrust tomorrow to Him, too. Each new morning, He meets you with the promise of sufficient manna for the day.” –Andrew Murray

God With Us

God is with us, in good times and bad times; easy times and hard times; gentle times and turbulent times. When we face difficulties, God will sometimes remove them, sometimes He will show us the way to avoid them, and other times He will show us the way through them. Having God’s presence is more important than the circumstances we face or the people that are around us. When God tells you He will walk through something with you it means you have all you need—peace is there, strength is there, grace is there, love is there, because He is there. 

Feed My Sheep

In the downtown area of the city where I live there is a small creek that works its way by the park, winds around the back of the fire department and the public library, and lazily flows near the campus of John Brown University before heading out of town. At a couple of places along the creek, visitors would often pause to watch the activities of a small number of ducks who decided to make the creek their home.  Near the library, the city put in a vending machine that usually contains food for feeding the ducks. It is a favorite place for parents to take their young children and give them a handful of food from the vending machine and then watch them excitedly feed the ducks.

I don’t know what goes through the mind of a duck, but I am pretty certain that a duck would be totally unresponsive to any child holding out a hand that was filled with marbles. When a duck waddles up to a child who has his hand extended, the duck is probably expecting to get a mouth full of real food. People, like ducks and other animals, need to eat real food in order to survive. We have a bowl full of fake fruit in our living room. It looks decorative and fits in great with our color scheme, but I won’t want to eat one.

After His resurrection, Jesus told Peter, “Feed my sheep.” It was a clear and simple command that focused on Peter’s responsibility to feed God’s people. The term “sheep” is commonly used in Scripture to identify those who belong to the Lord. David speaks of it in the twenty-third Psalm, Isaiah speaks of it in chapter fifty-three, Jeremiah speaks of it in chapter fifty, and Jesus speaks of it in the tenth chapter of John. The term “feed” can include the idea of tending and caring for the sheep, but it also carries the responsibility of actually providing the food that sheep need to live.

In order to feed God’s sheep, we must know what His sheep need to eat. What does food for God’s people look and taste like? There are two main things that cannot be left out of any spiritual diet. One is the person (the life) of Jesus and the other is the words of Jesus. The Scriptures never separate what Jesus did from what Jesus said. In Acts 1:1 we read, “…All that Jesus began both to do and teach.”

Regarding His person, Jesus said, “I am the bread of life...I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever.” John 6:50-51. Regarding His words, Jesus said, “The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.” John 6:63.

Jesus also said, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.” Luke 4:4 As new believers we need to feed on the milk of the word (1 Peter 2:3). As we mature we need to feed on the meat of the Word (1 Corinthians 3:2).  The prophet Jeremiah said this about God’s words, “Your words were found, and I ate them; and Your words were to me a joy and the rejoicing of my heart, for I am called by Your name, O Lord God of hosts.” 
 
We taste Thee, O Thou Living Bread,
And long to feast upon Thee still:
We drink of Thee, the Fountainhead
And thirst our souls from Thee to fill.
-St. Bernard of Clairvaux

God’s sheep cannot be fed on people’s opinions, on empty words, on meaningless rhetoric, on secular points of view, or on humanistic thinking. Our food is Truth, the living Truth and the spoken Truth of Jesus Christ. We need to feed upon the Truth, not have discussions about the Truth. No one ever survived by talking about food or writing books about food. We can only survive by partaking of food.

How do we, as the sheep of His pasture, eat His spiritual food? First, we eat by coming to His table and asking. God has promised that if we ask for Bread He will not give us a stone. Second, we eat by surrendering to the Word and yielding to its authority. Third, we eat by receiving the Word by faith with gratitude and thanksgiving. As long as we have a hungry heart we will always find God’s banqueting table filled with everything that is needed to sustain us and delight us. He has freely given us all things to enjoy.

“…He who has no money, come, buy and eat! Yes, come, buy [priceless, spiritual] wine and milk without money and without price [simply for the self-surrender that accepts the blessing]. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your earnings for what does not satisfy? Hearken diligently to Me, and eat what is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness [the profuseness of spiritual joy].” Isaiah 55:1-2 AMP

Fret Buster #36

God won’t say or do anything for the purpose of frustrating you, making you anxious, causing you to panic, or filling you with fear.

Fret Buster # 37
 
The Bible says, “The just shall live by faith,” it doesn’t say, “The just shall live by fear.” The Word of God builds faith; fear builds worry.

Fret Buster #38

Count on God in everything you do, in every circumstance you’re in, in every need you face, in every decision you make. Never think about anything apart from Him.

With and Without

 

 

…Without Christ…having no hope and without God in the world. Ephesians 2:11

…I am with you always. Matthew 28:20

 

Advertisers have told us that one of the worst things you can do is leave home without a credit card. Being without certain things can be greatly inconvenient or cause certain hardships. Most people would not like being without insurance coverage, without a job, without a retirement nest-egg, or without a dependable car.

 

Being without certain things can also be frustrating.  A car without gas cannot take you where you want to go; a house without air conditioning or a fan cannot give you any relief from a heat wave; a pen without ink cannot help you write down something important you need to remember.

 

Being without the more important things in life can be devastating. No one wants to live without the love and care of family, the companionship of good friends,  the warmth of home, the availability of food, or the supply of clean drinking water.

 

By far, the worst imaginable thing is to be without God. To live without God is to live without discovering why you were made. To live without God is to be without hope, to be without light, and to be without reality. To be without God means that you can have it all and still be empty; you can fill your life with pleasures and entertainment and still be without joy; you can protect yourself with every possible security and still not have peace; you can receive every type of reward and recognition and still be searching for meaning and purpose.

 

The best news we could ever hear is that we do not have to live without God. Jesus Christ came to earth to make atonement for our sins and to bring us back to God. Because He came, died, and rose again, we never have to live another day without Him. Jesus’ words are amazing: “I am with you always!” Today your heart can soar, your voice can praise, and every fiber of your being can respond with celebration. You are not abandoned. You are not isolated. You are not an orphan. You are not an outcast. You are the Lord’s!

 

With God, you may be broke, but you have the greatest riches; you may be single but you are not alone; you may walk through sorrow, but you have comfort; you may face difficulty, but you have hope; you may know your weakness, but you have strength; you may be unrecognizable to most people, but you are known by the Creator of the Universe.

Jesus Is

Jesus is:
The doctor’s cure
The pharmacist’s prescription
The athlete’s prize
The baker’s bread
The tailor’s pattern
The builder’s foundation
The musician’s melody
The composer’s symphony
The artist’s palette
The writer’s story
The poet’s rhyme
The traveler’s pathway
The explorer’s true north
The sailor’s safe haven
The mountain climber’s summit
The perfumer’s fragrance
The jeweler’s precious stone
The gardener’s rose
The astronomer’s morning star
The banker’s riches
The counselor’s wisdom
The lawyer’s truth
The heart’s delight

The Pilgrim’s Journey

“Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To the pilgrims of the Dispersion…”
1 Peter 1:1

What does it mean to be on a pilgrim’s journey? When we think of a journey we think of someone who is on the move. Movement, however, does not always mean that we are making progress or actually getting somewhere. We can walk on a treadmill for thirty minutes and still be in the same place where we started. We can do laps on a track and just be going around in circles. 

Peter begins his first epistle by addressing the followers of Christ as pilgrims. When we think of the word “pilgrim” we think of someone on a journey. Every follower of Christ is on a journey through this world. In the words of the songwriter, “This world is not my home/I’m just passing through.” Even though the followers of Christ are on a journey, it does not mean that they are wandering around in a fog. A pilgrim is someone who knows where he is, knows where he is heading, and knows how to get there.

Many years ago a popular song included the words “I still haven’t found what I’m looking for.” A pilgrim is not someone who is trying to find meaning or purpose in life, but someone who has found what he is looking for. A pilgrim is on a journey from earth to heaven, but on the journey the pilgrim never walks alone or wanders about without a purpose.

The Bible tells us to seek the Lord, but it also tells us that if we seek Him we will find Him. The pilgrim that the Bible addresses in 1 Peter is not someone who is walking about trying to find God, but someone who walks with God, who knows God, and is being guiding by God in every step he takes. The pilgrim is not looking “for his place in this world” because he has already found his place in Christ. The pilgrim’s purpose is Christ; the pilgrim’s destiny is Christ; the pilgrim’s progress is Christ. For the pilgrim, life is not about the journey, but about Christ.

A pilgrim is not someone who is “looking for the answers”, but someone who has found Christ to be the answer; not someone who is following Christ on his own terms, but someone who is following Christ on God’s terms; not someone who is trying to figure out the meaning to life, but someone who has found Christ to be his life.

A pilgrim is someone who walks in obedience to God’s words and is surrendered to His authority. A pilgrim has fully embraced the Lordship of Christ and is fully committed to the will of Christ. A pilgrim is a person of faith who trusts the One he is following, who walks in hope, who is kept by the power of God, who greatly rejoices, and who lives in the anticipation of an inheritance that is incorruptible, undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved for the pilgrim at the end of his journey.

God is above all things, beneath all things, outside of all things and inside of all things. God is above, but He’s not pushed up. He’s beneath, but He’s not pressed down. He’s outside, but He’s not excluded. He’s inside, but He’s not confined. God is above all things presiding, beneath all things sustaining, outside of all things embracing and inside all things filling. That is the immanence of God. -A.W. Tozer

‘Tis the sound of Jesus that rings softly in my ears
‘Tis the sound of Jesus that rings loudly in my heart
‘Tis the sound of Jesus that brings me to His feet
‘Tis the sound of Jesus that beckons me to His further paths
‘Tis the sound of Jesus that I know makes me sing
Oh I sing the song of Jesus, ringing me , bringing me, beckoning me to higher praise.
‘Tis the softness of His voice, my forever dance.
-Lydia Nast

There is a sweet joy in feeling that He knows all, and notwithstanding loves us still. -J. Hudson Taylor