The Rose and the Lily

The rose that blooms in Sharon,

   has beauty beyond compare.

And the lily of the valley,

   its fragrance fills the air.

The lovely rose of Sharon,

   is precious in His sight.

Upon the plains and hills,

   its beauty, glory bright.

The plains and hills of our life,

   are times of ease and rest.

He blesses many times the saint,

   before they face a test.

The lily of the valley,

   with beauty He adorns.

Yet that fragile, fragrant lily,

   grows among the thorns.

The valleys of our life,

   are times of pain and stress.

They cause the saint to cry to Him,

   but how those thorns can bless!

In the rose and lily both,

   God sees a beauty rare.

Their fragrance sweetest incense,

   blessings and trials they share.

Debbie Isenbletter
Springfield, Missouri

 SHARING TESTIMONIES

Pastor Gordon Crook 

Right Place/Right Time

On a Wednesday in the middle of October, I received a text from my daugher–in law, Mattea. She had been sick all night and was still not feeling well. I asked her if she wanted me to come take care of my grand daughter, Evelyn. She replied that it would be nice if I was able. 

I had retired from my engineering job in August of this year, and that allowed me to be very available. So, I decided to go watch my grand daughter and allow her to get some rest. 

She went to take a nap and napped for an hour or two. When she came out of the room, she said, “My leg is numb and I can’t feel my hand.” Then she mentioned that her face felt numb. Fearing a stroke, I loaded her and Evelyn in the car and took her to the ER. She was still able to walk, but not very well and her speech was slurring some.

They tended to her in the ER and shortly sent her to another hospital in Wichita via ambulance. They were certain she was having a stroke and wanted better care for her. In Wichita they confirmed that she had a stroke and it had impaired the left side of her body some. Her leg and arm and hand had lost some function. She had “cracked” her neck when she went in to nap, and they said that created a small tear in her artery that precipitated the stroke.

Fortunately, we had reacted pretty quickly in getting her to the ER and they were able to start her on the proper medications right away. This was just the Lord’s doing. It was my choice to go or not go to watch my grand daughter, but God made it possible for me to be there and I know that He put it in my heart to want to go there.

That allowed me to be there when she started noticing the symptoms. Time is of the essence in the case of a stroke. If I had not been there, she might not have been able to get to the ER so quickly. It would have been at least an hour before her husband got home from work. God is so good to put us where He needs us at the time He needs us. The doctors expect her to make a complete recovery. She still has some work to do to improve use of her left hand.

No Trace

We received a call from a lady from our church. She asked for urgent prayer for her husband. He had suddenly become incoherent and she was not sure what it was. We assured her that we would go to prayer immediately, and come out to help her.

Since we knew that it would take us approximately 30 minutes to get to them, we called our son who lives about three minutes from them. He had just returned home from working out of town and he agreed to go see if he could help. 

When we got there, it was clear that something serious was going on with her husband. He seemed to be awake and know that we were there, and even attempt to communicate, but he was not able to speak to us. Then, at times he would seem to kind of drift off and slump over some. We laid hands on him and prayed.

We decided to call 911 and get some EMTs and an ambulance. The first to show up were the fire department EMTs, and they did some checking and felt like he was having a TIA which is like a mini stroke. Shortly thereafter, the ambulance with a couple of EMTs showed up and did some further testing. He was an EMT with 50 years experience and was convinced that he was having a TIA.

By this time, the husband was able to speak a little and was able to answer a couple of the EMT’s questions. He still seemed like he was unsure what was going on. The EMT with our help was able to convince him to let them take him to the hospital to get checked out. 

We again laid hands on him and prayed before they took him. At the ER, we stayed for quite a while that night and the doctor that came in after a while was also convinced that he had a TIA. By this time, he is pretty much back to normal, but did not have any memory of the period of time when we were at his house. 

Over that night and the next day, they did every test they needed, but were unable to find any evidence of anything. It was as if nothing had happened to him. If we were not there to witness it, he would not be able to convince any doctor that something had happened to him. We praise God for His answer to prayers, and for enabling our son to be available to help in quick order. 

 “IF YOU KNOW

WHAT’S GOOD FOR YOU…”

Jack Davis

Ecc. 6:11-12, “Seeing that there be many things that increase vanity, what is man the better? For who knoweth what is good for man in this life, all the days of his vain life which he spendeth as a shadow? For who can tell a man what shall be after him under the sun.” The book of Ecclesiastes gives us the perspective of  man under the sun. Thank God, by faith in Christ Jesus we realize that we have been raised up and seated in the Heavenlies in Him, giving a better point of view.

Have you heard this line? “If you know what’s good for you!!” Most of us in our youth have at one time or other heard these or similar words from our mother, or both parents for that matter. They say this to precede a command or requirement of some sort. “Don’t do that, or you better do this.” Even if they were not specific, we usually knew what they were getting at.

God our Father’s Word teaches both that which is harmful and helpful for us. We are taught how to do well in that which is profitable, beneficial, or expedient. We are enabled to discern the things which increase vanity, and produce substance, so that we don’t spend our days as a shadow. Thank God!

Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. Abstain from all appearance of evil…” I Thess. 5:21-23. 

“For the Word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” Heb. 4:12. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil” Heb. 5:14.

Pleasing God, doing His will with a thankful heart is blessedly beneficial, and must not be seen as a dreadful duty, as if it was His pleasure to make us miserable. It is evidently to be rather a delightful devotion. It is God’s pleasure to guide us into the most enjoyable privileges that promote eternal pleasures. Consider Psalm 16:1-11, in this light.

“It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes” Ps. 119:71. “Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept thy word” Ps. 119:67. “I know, O LORD, that thy judgments are right, and that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me” Ps. 119:75. “The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way” Ps. 37:23. “But it is good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust in the Lord GOD, that I may declare all thy works” Ps. 73:28. “For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly” Ps. 84:11.

“It is a good thing to give thanks unto the LORD, and to sing praises unto thy name, O most High” Ps. 92:1. “Praise ye the LORD: for it is good to sing praises unto our God; for it is pleasant; and praise is comely” Ps. 147:1.

From what we should know from the Scripture, and may come to know by experience, it should be very clear to us that it is not good for us to allow the world to influence our thinking Romans 12:1-3,9,21. I John teaches us to not love the world. 

We also come to know that we don’t want our own flesh to control our living. Our fallen nature, that sinful self-life would like to dominate us in selfish living. Trusting the flesh hinders us from recognizing when God sends good – Jer. 17:6.

Therefore knowing these things, we realize that we certainly don’t want Satan, the devil, that god of this world, the prince and power of the air, the ruler of the darkness of this age to influence, dominate, or in any way to affect our daily living.

Whatever we allow to determine our attitude and actions today has great bearing on our tomorrow (eternity). It is bad enough to allow the world, the flesh, and the devil to cheat us out of present blessings and everyday enjoyment, even rich endowment now. But our enemy is not satisfied with stealing from us, now. He uses the world and the flesh profusely to rob us of everything he can for eternity. Then his greater goal is aimed at taking away all the glory he can from God.

God’s children often choose so foolishly, and act so blindly, stupidly, just stumbling, and staggering along into Satan’s harmful traps. We should realize that as He influences the world, that he also intends to influence selfish living from us. We need not be ignorant of his devices. We should well know how he operates. It is well documented throughout the Bible. He doesn’t mind dangling before our eyes, things that are not seemingly so-bad, in order to lead toward that which is worse. He would not resist the “good” so strongly if it would keep us from that which is “better” if he could beat us and God out of the “best.”

Paul and Jesus both speak of the many attractive elements that are intended to keep us from seeking the things that are above and setting our affections there. We must decide if we will yield our members as instruments of righteousness, or unrighteousness. 

It seems that God has allowed the flesh and the world to be at the disposal of our enemy. But we determine personally what influence of control our enemy has on us or exercises on our fallen nature.

 We choose whether or not we bring our thoughts into captivity to the obedience of Christ (II Cor. 10:5); and our bodies into subjection to the life of our Lord and Savior. I Cor. 9:27.

 Romans 8

Continued (Vs. 29-39)

Earlene Davis

V. 29 – As believers we can boast in our family tree, God is our Father and the Son of God is our Brother. It all started in eternity past when God chose a new Creation – Eph. 1:4-5. He predetermined that one day we would be like His Son. Predestination applies only to saved people. No where are we taught that God predestines people to be eternally condemned. People are only condemned because they refuse Christ – Jn. 3:18-21.

V. 30 – To those that responded to His call He justified and He also glorified them – II Thes. 2:13-14. The believer has already been glorified in Christ. Did not Jesus said in prayer to the Father (Jn. 17:21), “the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one.” The revelation of this glory awaits the coming of the Lord. This is marvelous, in God’s foreknowledge the elect, a new creation in Christ were identified in eternity past. He purposed their justification and to be glorified in His Son.  Christ is the head of this New Creation making Him the firstborn among many brethren. Just think, before there were none of us living. God’s sovereign purposes for us are in Christ and they have been fulfilled to Him and are sure to all who believe.

V. 31 – The second question answers the first question. God has put Himself on record in absolute sovereignty in man’s salvation, what can anyone do to hurt us? We read last time V. 28, He is working everything together for our good to fulfill His purposes.

V. 32 – The Father is for us and proved it by giving His Son. If when we were sinners, God gave us His best, now that we are His children, God gives all things to his own. God gave the all things in giving His Son. He was a Gift. II Cor. 9:15, “Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable Gift.” In Christ are all the blessings of His salvation. The love of God is the basis of it all. What can He withhold from His sons. All things are ours in Christ.

V. 33 – God Himself has cleared all charges, for Christ is their Representative and head. In Christ all were provisionally justified. When we believe and receive Christ, we inter into our provision rights. They have been waiting for us and all the New Creation since Christ arose from the dead. Our Christian experience changes from day to day, but justification never changes. God will never take us to court and accuse us. Jesus has already paid the penalty and we are secure in Him.

V. 34 – Christ was raised again for our justification. So to condemn the believer is to condemn Christ. And now, He is our Advocate and pleads our cause before His Father. The Father beholds His Son’s nail-pierced hands and vindicates us. God is satisfied and puts Himself on record as being on our side. Christ alone has the right to condemn and He also is on our side. We have a dual intercession that keeps us secure in Christ. The Spirit intercedes – Vs. 26-27 – and the Son intercedes. As our High Priest, Christ can give us the grace we need to over-come temptations (Heb. 4:15-16). Also as our Advocate, He can forgive our sins and restore our fellowship with God (I Jn. 1:9). He intercedes for each of us, a ministry that assures us that we are secure.

Vs. 35-36 – The Holy  Spirit is the uniting bond between THE Son and sons. Nothing can break this divine unity. The Trinity of God is involved in man’s salvation. It is not a maybe, but a confident “shall” of assurance. Romans chapter 8 begins with “no condemnation” and ends with “no separation.” Mans plans and way are unstable, vacillating. Even when strong willed, his power is limited. But God’s will is changeless. It is perfect from the beginning and by His almighty power, His purposes will be consummated without failure or delay. Those who love God and are led of the Spirit, enters into His plan that embraces all circumstances. God is for us, and there can be no successful opposition from any thing, or any person. For divine wisdom and foreknowledge are behind all things. God will not fail of His purposes. Tribulation is a fierce opposer, but God uses it to refine us from dross. Distress is allowed to draw us closer to the Lord. Persecution tests our love to God. Famine, nakedness, peril and sword only teach us our need and dependence upon God and that our satisfaction and rest is in Him.

V. 36 – Death is the way to life. Jesus went this way, His life was poured out daily in service to His Father and to others. Lk. 9:24, Jesus said, “Whosoever will save his life, shall lose it; but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, shall save it.” A continuous dying, yet that dying is a continuous victory – a gain not a loss. A life poured out for God finds more abundant life. The trials and temptations are a means in a final perfection. God’s ways are awesome, He allows Satan to buffet us, but God uses those instruments to work blessings. His strength being made perfect in our weakness. As we count or reckon with God, they cause thanksgiving from us for His work of grace in us.

V. 37 – The Diaglott renders this, “we do more than overcome.” Who is this more than conqueror? It is the one who reigns over every circumstance. The one who lets Christ, the true overcomer, rule in their live, abanding self-effort and trusting God.

Vs. 38-39 – Paul was persuaded, confident in God’s faithfulness and in His perfect union with Christ. He declares, not one of these nor all of them together, can come between the believer and the love of God, displayed in His love Gift to us in Christ Jesus. Death will not separate us, for to die is to be with Him. Life cannot separate us, for us to live is Christ. Angels, principalities and powers, celestial or terrestrial cannot separate us, they are all subject to Him who is over all. 

At times we may become perplex and dread the future until we remind ourselves that nothing can move us from our place in Christ, THE CONQUEROR. Nothing above or beneath, nothing at all has power to break the union between the believer and the living God. 

The Holy Spirit has put us into Christ and cemented us there. This is a good persuasion and leads us to peace in our hearts and lives. How could there ever be a question as to the eternal security of the believer. May we be persuaded and believe God’s Word. “That neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

 THE EAGLE

As storms approach, lesser fowl head for cover, but the mighty eagle spreads his wings and with a great cry mounts upon the powerful updrafts, soaring to the heights of glory. The eagle soars effortlessly, letting the wind carry him where other fowl beat with frantic wings to stay aloft. In spite of the winds, thunder and lightning the eagle seems to know instinctively where there is safety in the midst of the storm.

Similarly, the eagle-type Christian sees behind the storm, the winds of the Holy Spirit, and rises on wings of faith to rest on God’s carrying power far above harm and destruction. He moves, not by striving, but by restfully abiding. He trusts in the soaring current of God’s love. The Lord Himself bears him up. Just as the eagle knows how to catch the rising of life through his knowledge of the currents, the overcomer in Christ knows his faithful God and experiences triumphant life by trusting and waiting.

When the eagle’s mighty wing feathers become heavy with oil and dirt and his beak and talons become calcified and brittle, he retires to a hiding place in a cave of rock out of reach of predators and experiences a period of renewal. With his great beak he pulls out his mighty wing feathers one by one. He then extracts each claw. Finally, he begins to smash his beak against the rocks, until it, too, is gone. Left defenseless, this peerless, unique bird waits patiently until beak, talons and feathers have regrown, emerging in his renewed condition stronger than before.

As a new creature in Christ, we may experience a renewal as we lay aside the things inconsistent with the life of faith. As we stand before the Lord, stripped of all that would keep us from leaning on Him alone, our strength is renewed.

The eagle is known for his ferocity; yet no member of the bird family is more gentle and attentive to its young. At just the right time, the mother eagle begins to teach her eaglets how to fly. She gathers the eaglet onto her back and spreading her wings, flies high. Suddenly she swoops out from under the eaglet, and as it falls, it gradually learns what its wings are for, until the mother catches it once again on her wings. Sometimes the eaglet learns on the first try, but if not, the process is repeated many times. If the young one is show to learn or cowardly, she returns him to the nest, and begins to tear the nest apart until there is nothing left for the eaglet to cling to. Then she nudges him off the cliff.

Those in Christ, who learn to depend upon a faithful Father, know that underneath are His everlasting arms (arms of eternity), ready to bear us up, support and carry us through all of life’s storms.

Just as this matchless bird has been given eyes that can see from a great distance, and look directly into the sun and not be blinded, the believer, looking by faith from God’s point of view, is given spiritual eyes to see from afar. These enjoy gifts of counsel and insight beyond compare. When others see only problems and turn their eyes to circumstances, the eagle-eyed Christian is enabled to look beyond to the joy set before him, and endure whatever cross must be borne. Oh, yes, they see by the Spirit the very depths of God. These see in His nature the answer to all things.

“But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; They shall walk, and not faint” Isaiah 40:31.     

 – Adapted

 Think On These Things

Martha Wainright

Gladstone, Missouri

Whither shall I go from thy spirit? Or whither shall I flee from thy presence?” – Psalm 139:7.

It is impossible to go away from God. As Christians we know, by faith, and often with emotional conviction, that God will not leave us. But it is another matter to realize that we cannot leave Him. We may even have times of being out of complete harmony with Him, but we cannot leave His Spirit or His presence once the Spirit of Christ has been given to us by the new birth. 

Let’s think about times in our lives when we may have tried to escape the presence of God. Now we don’t usually verbalize it this way nor do we even form those words in our subconsciousness, but if we are to be purely honest, there are times when the humanity in us wants God to leave us alone. Not leave us, just leave us alone. There’s a difference.

David said, “If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me” – Psalm 139:11. In  practical experience, when we surrender ourselves and our will to Jesus Christ as the Head of our life, there is no escaping His handiwork. There are parts of the Lord’s natural handiwork in creation that are breathtakingly beautiful, but that is temporary and the beauty of nature pales in comparison to the working of  God in our own individual life.

“For it is God who worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure” – Philippians 2:13. We need a vision of this truth. When the Lord, through the guidance of the Holy Spirit, corrects us and chastens us as Sons of God, it is because He loves us – Hebrews 12:6. And through these times of testing and training we are glorifying God, we are a delight unto Him (Proverbs 29:17). 

But we need a vision of this truth, a divine vision, because “where there is no vision, the people perish.” This is not speaking of losing our eternal life in Christ, that’s impossible. But we can perish in the sense of losing the spiritual sight of our calling and perish in hope. Instead we need “The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, And what is the exceeding greatness of His power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power” – Ephesians 1:18-19.

Jonah could not escape from God. We don’t know exactly why Jonah did not want to go to Nineveh to cry against it. But Nineveh speaks to us of this whole wicked world and we, especially  we who have a vision of the truth of an overcoming walk, rebel against being in the world. We are not citizens of this world; we are pilgrims and strangers and we feel out of place. There are times we want to escape. But we learn over and over again that our only refuge and hiding place is God himself.

“But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the  presence of the Lord” – Jonah 1:3. Verse 4 begins, “But the Lord…”. There He is. He is there – through our ups and downs and even knows what our reaction will be to theses times before we experience them (Psalm 139:2). He may not “prepare a fish for us, but He will do what it takes to keep us in His will. The message of the grace of God is that we do God’s will by His enabling. “For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s” – I Corinthians 6:20.

We are not of the world, but we are in it and as Jonah was called by God to cry out against the wickedness of Nineveh so our very presence and witness in the world cries out against the wickedness of this present evil age. This testimony is expelled in many ways – verbal, yes, but also in a tactile (touching) way. Those we rub shoulders with daily are touched by the presence of God through us.

In summary of these thoughts, as comfort, assurance, and instruction, Jesus said, “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee” (Hebrews 13:5). And He meant it. Selah.

 The Encouraging Word

“Trust in Him at all times, O people; Pour out your heart before Him. God is a refuge for us.” Selah. Psalm 62:8

“My soul (heart), clings to you; your right hand upholds me.” Psalm 63:8

“Neither know we what to do, but our eyes are upon Thee.” II Chron. 20:12

“When thou goest, thy way shall be opened up before thee step by step.” Proverbs 4:12 free translation

“You rule the swelling of the sea; when its waves rise, you still them.” Psalm 89:9

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.” Ephesians 1:3

“Surely the righteous will give thanks to your name; the upright will dwell in you presence.” Psalm 140:13

“And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to  God the Father through Him.” Colossians 3:17

Martha Wainright