(C) Cheryl Howard

HE saw you ragged

HE saw you broken

Your hopes and dreams remaining still unspoken

HE saw you dirty and your life it was all shattered

 

HE picked you up

Out of the gutter

Whispered words of life

You thought no one would utter

 

“I choose you

Oh child of MINE

I choose you

To be the one

To fill MY heart and satisfy MY soul”

 

Your darkened eyes

Your deafened ears

Awakened to such words of life

You thought you’d never hear

 

HE gave you hope

Gave you HIS Life

HE gave you Love

And whispered to you, “You are MINE!”

 

 

 

 

thought for the journey …

 

Chosen. Desired. Pursued … Defying all logic and reason, this is what we are by Holy, Almighty GOD.

Called. Delivered. Elect … Why? Because GOD is love, because HE is our Creator and to HIS heart we are cherished and held dear … Why? Because HE is GOD!

 

Psalm 95:6-7 “Oh come let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before The LORD our Maker. For HE is our GOD, and we are the people of HIS pasture, and the sheep of HIS hand.”

Psalm 100:3 “Know that The LORD, HE is GOD; it is HE who made us, and not we ourselves; we are HIS people and the sheep of HIS pasture.”

 

Marred. Ugly. Proud. Rebellious. Lost. Rotten with sin … Yes these words describe the hearts of humanity - but Hallelujah for the Good news of the Gospel of JESUS CHRIST - for the power of The Cross; for the heart of our Heavenly FATHER that is one of deep compassion, tender mercy and loving-kindness toward us!

 

Psalm 103:2-4; 8-14 “Bless The LORD O my soul and forget not all HIS benefits; Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases, Who redeems your life from destruction, Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies,” ….. “The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in mercy. HE will not always strive with us, nor will HE keep HIS anger forever. HE has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor punished us according to our iniquities. For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is HIS mercy toward those who fear HIM; as far as the east is from the west, so far has HE removed our transgressions from us. As a father pities his children, so The LORD pities those who fear HIM. For HE knows our frame; HE remembers that we are dust!”

(C) Cheryl Howard 2007

 

Feel trapped in a pit, suffocating

Darkness so thick it rises like water

Threatens to pull me under – I’m drowning

Can’t see a way out, can’t see a way through

Cry’s broken from use, don’t know what to do

 

 

In a moment of time light pierces the black

Grace unexpected it touches my face

And I realise my foolishness in thinking YOU’re back

For YOU never left me, YOU were there all along

It was YOU that was holding me – offering Love that is strong

 

 

Feel so desperate, lost, alone

Not cherished, valued and not known

When so sure my strength would fail

It was YOUR grace BELOVED that prevailed

YOU are my Hope, my Love, my Joy – in YOUR arms I am cradled

 

 

The offering that comes from the ashes of life is most sweet

When the pain seems unbearable and no end in sight

Though it cost you incomprehensible as you yield in ‘defeat’

And you offer it up when all your hope seems gone

And you choose to worship The SAVIOR – trusting HE never does wrong

 

 

For HIS heart it touches, HIS compassions it stirs

None but HE understands the ache you feel

You are not forgotten, abandoned, unheard

For HE embraced suffering unimaginable for you

HE gave of HIMSELF till nothing was left

To wrap you in HIS arms and give you life from HIS death

 

 

 

 

thought for the journey …

 

We all love it when GOD grants our requests, when our heartfelt prayers are answered with a resounding YES! It can be quite a heady experience - Wow, ALMIGHTY GOD listens to me when I cry out to HIM, HE answers my prayers. Talk about influence and clout!

But how do you feel when The LORD answers with silence, with a wait, or the unthinkable - with a NO? When you’re at the end of your tether, when you are so overwhelmed you think you can’t go on? What about when the cry of your heart is not for you, it isn’t based in selfishness, but in desperate longing for another’s need?

Do you still trust HIM unswervingly? Do you still believe in HIS Absolute Goodness and Wisdom? Do you like Job in chapter 13:15 say “though HE slay me, yet will I trust HIM…”?

Or does the lustre of your faith and confidence in HIM begin to dim a little? Do doubts creep in and you find yourself wondering if HE isn’t quite Who you thought HE was? Do you begin to wonder if it’s all worth it? Or like Peter, despite many of JESUS’ disciples turning back from following HIM because of offense, do you say in response to JESUS’ question ”Do you also want to go away?” - ”LORD, to whom shall we go? YOU have the words of eternal life.” (John 6:67-68) 

 

In truth it is GOD’s ”no’s” that puts us to the test, they expose and reveal our trust and faith in HIM (or lack thereof) - our faith that is unspeakably precious to our SAVIOR. Faith is easy when GOD appears to be doing our bidding, running things according to our agendas, when things are sweet and going our way; but what about when everything is turning upside down, when hardship comes knocking on your door? What about when you find yourself backed into a corner through circumstances and choices that you had nothing to do with?

Will you still trust HIM then, or will you accuse HIM of neglect, of failure…?

O beloved of The LORD, cling to HIM when you are bombarded and assaulted by trials and testings that challenge your confidence in the Loving-kindness and Power of your SAVIOR! Weeping may endure for a night, but joy does come in the morning - yes it may be a long night, but remember that GOD is fashioning of your life an eternal masterpiece, and if you truly love ALMIGHTY GOD then you can stand, stand and stand therefore in the confident knowledge that HE is working all things together for your (eternal) good, according to HIS purposes! HE came to give us abundant life - eternal life.

 

Don’t give up! There is far too much at stake, far too much for us to lose. The darker it is - the more we need HIS Light; the harder things are - the more we need HIS Strength; the more hopeless our future appears - the greater our need of HIM, The HOPE of the world, The GOD of all hope! 

 

Hebrews 10:34b-36a ”…knowing that you have a better and an enduring possession for yourselves in heaven. Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. For you have need of endurance …”

 

1 Peter 1:6-7 “In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor and glory at the revelation of CHRIST.” 

 

(C) Cheryl Howard 2007

 

 

  “YOU O LORD will show me and will make me to know, and help me to recognise the course, conduct and manner of life. YOU will help me to understand and to perceive, as I observe and reflect and think upon, and as I experience and acknowledge it, the path of life, like a well-trodden road - the way of life!

Life that is fresh, alive, raw and strong! So that the manner in which I live, and the course of my life, is paved with this special quality of Life.

In YOUR Presence and in YOUR Sight, before YOUR Face - with YOU, is joy full of pleasure, mirth and glee; blithesome and overflowing with rejoicing.

In YOUR Person – Who YOU are, and all that makes YOU, YOU, is the fullness and the satisfaction of real joy and gladness!

At YOUR right hand, that place where YOU strengthen me, where YOU show me YOUR favour and where YOUR will is done there are pleasures continually. There I find sweet, pleasant and delightful things constantly, perpetually – in fact always and forevermore!

This is so true, and I can rest confident in this – in YOU, in YOUR splendour, for YOU are The Light of my life!

 

 

 

 

thought for the journey …

 

Life!

 

What a highly charged, emotive little word. We know that JESUS came to give us abundant life - life to the full, life that is overflowing. Life that is - alive! (John 10:10)

But GOD doesn’t just give us life - HE is our life, for HE is LIFE! It is not possible to experience true life apart from HIM, out of relationship with HIM, without genuine intimacy with The ALMIGHTY. And it is not possible to have a warm and close relationship with our CREATOR, our Heavenly FATHER, apart from The Cross. We must be reconciled to our GOD through the shed blood of our SAVIOR - JESUS is our Redeemer-Kinsman!

 

So often humanity tries to paint GOD in hues of lifeless grey - so many have swallowed the enemy of our soul’s lies that he is the life-giver and that our Great and Glorious CREATOR is life-taker. A sorrier pack of lies has never been sold and bought -  and swallowed hook, line and sinker, from the father of lies!

The truth is that life without CHRIST is dull, flat, grey, lifeless - and dead! It’s time we started listening to our Maker, HE knows what is best for us, HE knows what we need, and not one selfish thought is contained in HIS Omniscient mind!

 

Jeremiah 29:11-13 “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says The LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon ME and go and pray to ME, and I will listen to you. And you will seek ME and find ME when you search for ME with all your heart.”

 

Humanity is searching for ‘life’, groping in the dark like a drunken blind man, when all the time The Giver of Life is shouting from eternity, from the beams of a Cross erected on a hill outside the city walls of Jerusalem - “Come to ME! I AM The Life!”

HE is our heart’s home! Home with GOD is not a ‘place’ on this earth, it’s a state of heart, of fellowship with HIM - it’s like being lost, desperate, dying of hunger and thirst, of nearly failing from the relentless heat of the ‘desert’, and then stumbling into HIS embrace, HIS grace, HIS fellowship and being flooded with peace, with joy, with the satisfying of the soul - of ‘coming home’ on the inside. Outside may appear the same, but all is changed for the one who finds GOD’s kingdom here on earth, and becomes part of it!

 

Romans 14:17 “for the kingdom of GOD is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, and peace and joy in The HOLY SPIRIT.”

 

Let us set our hearts to seek HIS heart, earnestly - to seek the Face of this Awesome, Loving, Amazing GOD of grace and forgiveness. Joy, pleasure, life are to be found in HIS company! 

 

(C) Cheryl Howard 2008

There is no one like my JESUS, no one can compare

HIS heart of matchless purity, no one can come near

Love that knows no limits, Holiness we’re wise to fear

Mercy toward us unending, tis humanity HE holds dear

 

 

HE stands alone in power, GOD in flesh is HE

Humbled and stripped HIMSELF, came down to you and me

CREATOR inhabited Creation, so the heart of GOD we’d see

The sacrifice alone was HIS, laid down HIS life to make us free

 

 

Vibrant with Life, death could not hold

To rescue HIS children – lost in sin had been sold

The warmth of HIS family calls us in from the cold

Forgiveness HE offers, unconditional, must be told!

 

 

The work of HIS SPIRIT, grace upon all lost souls

Convicting, compelling, longing from sin to make whole 

Do not despise or ignore, nor your withered heart withhold

For the cost of rejection throughout all eternity will unfold

 

 

There is no one like my FATHER, GOD who reigns on high

Salvation, it was HIS idea, for us death did HE defy

Not one soul is hid from HIM, who sees our pain, hears every cry

Only HE can wash us clean, free from sin, and set in love by HIS side!

 

 

 

thought for the journey ….

 

Love, grace, mercy and forgiveness … unearned, unmerited, unsought …

Offered to you and me, from the heart and hands of a HOLY GOD and CREATOR.

 

G  - GOD in CHRIST

R  - Reaching out in Rescue

A  - Acquitting man of his sin

C  - Clearing us of our guilt

E  - Exonerating & Emancipating sinners from death!

 

We are not worthy, we don’t deserve it - and we can NEVER earn it! It is the costly gift of a Loving GOD, our CREATOR, to HIS wayward, rebellious, proud and self-righteous children. HE picked us up out of the gutter - filthy, broken lost vagabonds, and HE washed away the stain of our sin, HE cleansed the stench of our rebellion by HIS own Blood, and HE clothed us in HIS Own white hot righteousness. That is the power of grace - Grace that was exhibited for all the world to see upon a brutal Cross more than 2000yrs ago - “The LAMB slain from the foundation of the world.” Revelation 13:8b.

Slain, crucified - INNOCENCE, Sinless PERFECTION, put to death for all humanity - Grace that can only be accessed by repentance; we must turn from our sins and turn to HIM when HE calls - and HE is calling, each of us, to repent and return to our GOD, our LORD and CREATOR.

 

HE has placed value and worth upon our lives. It is the power of CHRIST’s Cross that transforms us from the filth of our sin to the radiant righteousness of CHRIST.

 

We are cleansed by HIS Blood - Ephesians 1:7  “In HIM we have redemption through HIS Blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of HIS Grace.”

 

We are washed by HIS Word - Ephesians 5:25b-27  “.. just as CHRIST also loved the church and gave HIMSELF for her, that HE might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the Word, that HE might present her to HIMSELF a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.”

 

We are purified by fire - 1 Peter 4:12-13  “Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; but rejoice to the extent that you partake of CHRIST’s sufferings, that when HIS Glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy.”

 

We will be perfected in righteousness “For HE made HIM who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of GOD in CHRIST.” 2 Corinthians 5:21. 

It is HIS work of Grace within our lives - “Now may the GOD of Peace HIMSELF sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul and body be preserved blameless at the Coming of our LORD JESUS CHRIST. HE Who calls you is Faithful, Who also will do it.” 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24.

 

 

(C) Cheryl Howard 2008

Heavy is my heart, a lump wedged in my throat

Grief settles on my soul, its grip squeezes tight my hope

I hear the distant murmur of greedy vultures gloat

I hear my SAVIOR beckon me to step out of the boat

 

 

My arms they hang with ponderous weight

My leaden feet are nailed fast

Trapped within, it threatens me as heavy shuts the gate

So I must flee into the arms of HIM Who is First and Last

 

 

HE is my joy both now and ever, my cherished Great Reward

And truth to tell, me HE did warn, the way is fought with sword

An easy life HIMSELF did spurn, HE bore my suffering on shoulders broad

If I’ll but tie my heart to HIS, HE’ll keep me safe with Love’s unbreaking chords

 

 

Shake off the glum, the sorrow, despair

Lift high my sacrifice of praise

Yield up to HIM my weighted soul, for truly does HE care

Tis HIM my heart with all adores through life’s allotted days!

 

 

 

thought for the journey …

 

 

Do you find yourself in a storm of raging, turbulent waters - churning waters that threaten to drag you under, overwhelm you and drown you?

Our SAVIOR Who is LORD of all, Who holds your very life in HIS hands - hands that span the universe - is LORD over those dark and turbulent waters!

Isaiah 40:12 “Who has measured the waters in the hollow of HIS hand, measured heaven with a span and calculated the dust of the earth in a measure? Weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance?”

You are only truly in trouble if you let your eyes drift from our SAVIOR, from focusing on HIM in simple trust and reliance; to setting your attention on those wild stormy waves that threaten to overwhelm you - that path leads to darkness and bondage!

Do not be consumed by your great trials and testings, but instead be consumed by our LORD and SAVIOR - HE Who is mighty to save.  Isaiah 63:1 “… This ONE Who is Glorious in HIS apparel, traveling in the greatness of HIS strength? - ‘I Who speak in righteousness, mighty to save.’”

You cannot afford to let your gaze, your hope, slip from The LORD.

Those raging waters lie waiting for the first sliver of an opportunity to grab you and drag you under - down into turmoil, defeat and despair.

 

Matthew 14:27-31 “But immediately JESUS spoke to them, saying, ‘Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid.’ And Peter answered HIM and said, ‘LORD, if it is YOU, command me to come to YOU on the water.’ So HE said, ‘Come!’ And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to JESUS. But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, ‘LORD save me!’ And immediately JESUS stretched out HIS hand and caught him, and said to him, ‘Oh you of little faith, why did you doubt?’”

 

When Peter took his eyes off JESUS, then the stormy seas overwhelmed him, sucked him under and threatened to drown him - likewise you and me. When Peter kept his focus on The LORD, steadfast on CHRIST Alone, then the impossible became possible and he walked on water - in victory on top of the raging turbulent waters!

 

If, like Peter, you have let your dependance upon CHRIST Alone waver, your eyes to slip from HIS steadfast face and HIS commanding voice; down to the fearful, intimidating challenges you are facing - then like Peter cry out urgently ‘LORD save me!’ - and in the blink of an eye HIS waiting hand will reach out and swiftly snatch you to safety.

Have faith in HIM. HE is LORD of creation - no storm will ever threaten HIS power, ability and willingness to rescue you and keep you. Keep your heart resolute upon HIM; HIS goodness and grace, and hear HIS voice as it speaks to you - “Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid.”

 

(C) Cheryl Howard 2008

There’s a blackness in your soul,

A place where you’re not whole,

A place that you still fight,

To keep from GOD’s fierce Light.

 

 

Can’t you hear HIS whispered cry,

“For you I came, for you I died,

I came to set you free,

From death and misery.”

 

 

Open up that darkened place,

To the warmth of HIS embrace.

Trust in HIS mercy and in HIS Name,

For never will HE put you to shame.

HE has procured your liberation,

This JESUS – Light to all the nations.

 

 

HE has ordained for you a wide land;

Bright, unfettered, free.

Enter in through faith;

The eyes with which you see.

HIS voice it roars through all of time,

“Before eternity you were MINE,

Choose Life, choose Love, choose ME!”

 

 

 

thought for the journey ….

 

Hebrews 10:35-36 “Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of GOD, you may receive the promise: For yet a little while and HE who is coming will come and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith; but if anyone draws back, MY soul has no pleasure in him.”

 

Don’t be tempted to draw back from The LORD, to doubt HIM, to hide from HIM in shame - Adam and Eve did that right in the beginning when they rebelled and disobeyed - they tried to hide their sin from the eyes of Omniscient GOD! How futile, how foolish - we can’t hide from the piercing sight of HOLY GOD! How much better to run to HIM, to throw ourselves upon HIS everlasting mercy - it is that HE desires from us, that we will trust HIS goodness, HIS grace, HIS forgiveness - the Power of CHRIST’s substitutionary Sacrifice upon Calvary to cleanse and make us righteous.

When we draw back and attempt to shut HIM out we are declaring our lack of trust and confidence in HIM, and our unwillingness to yield our brokenness to HIS healing touch.

 

Don’t listen to the deceiver’s lies, telling you ALMIGHTY GOD will reject you if you let HIM into your darkest places; don’t let his accusations rob you, telling you what you have hidden is too much for the cleansing power of CHRIST’s Blood to wash - better to try and sort it out yourself!

We can never make ourselves good enough - we are totally and utterly dependant upon the work of GOD’s grace within our lives; we are truly lost without HIM.

 

Hebrews 7:25 “Therefore HE is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to GOD through HIM, since HE always live to make intercession for them.”

The LORD JESUS CHRIST is our SAVIOR, our REDEEMER, our KING - HE took our place, our judgment, our punishment and HE Lives, HE stands in the gap for us, HE intercedes on our behalf.

 

2 Corinthians 5:21 “For HE made HIM Who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of GOD in HIM.”

John 6:44 “No one can come to ME unless The FATHER Who sent ME draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.”

 

This is the heart of HOLY GOD toward us - to make us righteous in HIS SON. There is nothing about us HE doesn’t already know - while we were still in our sin HE sent HIS SON to die for us - so don’t keep your dark places hidden from HIS Power and HIS Light; trust HIM, let HIM in, let HIS  truth and HIS love deliver you and set you free.

This is HIS desire for you - to make you whole in HIS SON.

 

 

 

 

(C) Cheryl Howard 2009

I cannot live without YOU, not even for a day

I stagger lost without YOU, YOU are The Only Way

Without YOUR light I’m blind, groping in the dark

I see a future empty, devoid of life and stark

 

 

 

Without YOU I am shrivelled, a shadow without form

If it wasn’t for YOUR Cross LORD, I’d still be dead, unborn

YOU are my breath of life, YOUR heart it beats in mine

Forever am I grateful that YOU stepped down into time

 

 

 

YOU took my sins upon YOU, YOU covered me with grace

YOU are unchanging Truth, in YOUR Atonement rests my faith

And what unsearchable riches, my LORD are found in YOU

YOUR Blood upon The Cross LORD, did for me what I can’t do

 

 

 

It is YOUR heart that is my treasure, YOUR Face that I seek

YOU Alone delight my soul, I yearn each day to hear YOU speak

For YOU are Life Eternal, Merciful, Righteous, Pure

The more O LORD I know YOU, I long to know YOU more, and more!

 

 

 

 

thought for the journey ….  

 

The miracle of CHRISTmas, the yearly celebration, exists because of ALMIGHTY GOD’s great heart of love towards HIS lost, fallen and rebellious creation. If GOD had not incarnated HIMSELF in Baby JESUS 2000 odd years ago, the world would indeed be a grim and ‘hope’less place. But we have JESUS - IMMANUEL, GOD with us; The Hope of the world ….. what a reason to celebrate, what joy, what wonder, what undeserved grace - what hope!

 

The miracle is that a Holy, Righteous, Just and Perfect GOD loves flawed, selfish, sin stained, self obsessed, failure ridden humanity - and not because we are so ‘lovable’ but because HE has imbued us with great worth and HE IS LOVE!

 

When we see our own ‘ugliness’ and unrighteousness, we are right - for all our ‘righteousness’ is as filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6) - and we must run to our SAVIOR Who fills us with HIS imputed righteousness. We have nothing to redeem ourselves, nothing to commend ourselves - yet HE chose us, loves us, and HE will fill us with HIS love and goodness, for HIS manifest glory - if we yield to HIM, trusting in the work of HIS Cross, the Power of HIS Blood, and receive!

Hold our own lives lightly, secure in the knowledge that YHWH holds them priceless! Oh how imperative it is that we know ‘who we are in CHRIST’ - not that we know “who we are”, but that we know who we are “in CHRIST”

 

The miracle is that not only does our Holy CREATOR love us, but HE yearns for us to be reconciled to HIMSELF - and an even greater miracle is that HE took upon HIMSELF the cost, the task and burden of reconciling us, of washing us clean from the filth of our sin, of redeeming us - of rescuing us through JESUS The CHRIST, SAVIOR of all who would hear HIS voice and heed HIS command to “Repent for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17) 

 

“All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and The LORD has laid on HIM the iniquity of us all.” Isaiah 53:6

This is the true message of CHRISTmas - the Gospel of the Grace of GOD!

(C) Cheryl Howard 2008

You watch the choices that they make,

A weight of sadness does your heart ache.

If you could open up their eyes,

You’d rip away the devil’s disguise.

 

You’d show them where their future leads,

How he robs, destroys, their soul to bleed.

You see the trouble they are storing up,

That one day will be the cup they sup.

 

But choices are our gift from GOD,

Each one has chosen the path they trod.

Yet mercy bound in grace HE offers,

Forgiveness poured from HIS endless coffers.

 

So seeming helpless must you stand by,

And call out for them, your prayer a cry.

The arm of man it cannot save,

Nor persuasive words their deception assuage.

 

Yet hope is bound upon the Cross,

Only CHRIST can give Life for our loss.

So take your loved ones to HIS feet,

And watch with joy as their need does HE meet!

 

Yield your grief into HIS grasp,

Don’t buckle in sorrow but for them ask,

That HE would draw them home to HIM,

Would wash them clean, remove their sin!

 

From the deepest hole and the darkest place,

Can HE snatch them up into HIS embrace.

HE redeems most wretched of souls,

Gives them HIS heart, and restores them whole!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

thought for the journey ….

 

Aren’t you forever grateful that ALMIGHTY GOD loves our loved ones immeasurably more than we ever could? Aren’t you glad beyond expression that salvation was HIS idea, and that The SON of GOD came into the world to save sinners - not the ‘righteous’ but sinners! (And that category encompasses every last one of us - all humanity! Romans 3:10 “As it is written: ‘There is none righteous, no, not even one;’”)

 

No matter how wretched, how hopeless things may look to us, remember that HE is The GOD of hope - and as long as we draw breath lets pray, getting in line with HIS will, HIS desire for our lost loved ones. For we know that when we pray in agreement with HIS will - HE answers!

We serve a SAVIOR who lives beyond eternity, who created this thing called time, who is above, outside, its limitations - and our faithful & faith filled prayers will go on even beyond our life, should HE take us home before we see our prayers answered! We do not pray in vain - to a GOD who is deaf or helpless, or unmoved by the plight of our wayward kin - we pray to a Living GOD, a merciful GOD, a powerful GOD, a SAVIOR who demonstrated the lengths HE would go to to rescue us - even the most ‘hopeless’ are not beyond the reach of HIS Glorious redemption, the Power of the Cross of JESUS CHRIST!

 

Romans 2:4 “Or do you despise the riches of HIS goodness, forbearance and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of GOD leads you to repentance?”

2 Peter 3:9 “The LORD is not slack concerning HIS promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.”

James 5:16b “…The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.”

(C) Cheryl Howard 2008

 

 

 

 

We are called with a sacred calling

Held by Love that keeps us from falling

We will one day bear the likeness

Of our GOD Who resides within us

 

HE has placed HIS heart inside ours

And HIS Light searches out our darkness

We are destined for HIS Glory

Each partaking of HIS story

 

So much nearer than we imagine

Is this GOD Who our lives fashions

So astounding is HIS Goodness

So breathtaking in HIS Greatness

 

Inspiring awe and dread, devotion

YAHWEH Who speaks like the thunder of oceans

Revered, adored by those who know and love HIM

To be feared by those who refuse to forsake their sin

 

Day and night HE cries out for the heart of man

Intercedes, entreats, offers us HIS nail-pierced hands

HIS Love the Power that drives and holds a universe

All for sinful human souls, on whom HE placed such worth

 

A Cross hangs over each and every life

A symbol of shame and scorn, and aching Sacrifice

There is but One True GOD, Who has right to claim our hearts

HE Who formed us to bear HIS image before breath did HE impart

 

What we do with GOD’s Own SON, it is our choice

Do we weep and yield before HIM, or in rebellion raise our voice?

At the foot of a humble Cross we each determine eternity

Separated, cut off and lost, or embrace CHRIST – Incarnate DEITY!

 

 

 

 

 

 

thought for the journey …

 

LOVE - that is what drove the FATHER to send The SON of GOD to Golgotha, to The Cross, to lay down HIS life . John 10:17-18 “Therefore MY FATHER loves ME, because I lay down MY life that I may take it again. No one takes it from ME, but I lay it down of MYSELF. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from MY FATHER.”

 

 

There are those who would question the love of a GOD who would send HIS Own Innocent SON to suffer and die for the sins of others; they see the Cross not as solid evidence of the cost of atoning for sin, but as an example in self-sacrifice and serving. How perverted and distorted our concept of love has become, that we could question the lavishly demonstrated love of GOD, that we could think ‘How could a loving GOD send HIS Sinless SON to The Cross? How could HE pour upon HIM all HIS righteous wrath and judgment? How could HE turn from HIM as HE hung in darkness dying upon those crude wooden beams?’

 

Matthew 27:45-46 “Now from the sixth hour until the ninth hour there was darkness over all the land. And about the ninth hour JESUS cried out with a loud voice, saying, ‘ELI, ELI, lama sabachthani,’ that is, ‘MY GOD, MY GOD, why have YOU forsaken ME?’”

 

 

If this is how we view the Father heart of GOD then we disclose and reveal our failure to understand two crucial things: The Love of GOD - FATHER, SON and HOLY SPIRIT; and the cost of sin!

It cost FATHER GOD upon The Cross, it cost The SPIRIT of GOD - it cost Triune GOD, not just The SON of GOD; though IT COST HIM HIS ALL! (”Behold I have come …. to do YOUR will, O GOD.” Hebrews 10:7)

 

 

What loving father would not be brokenhearted over their son’s suffering? The FATHER would have spared HIS SON if there was any other way to redeem us! Why do you think JESUS cried out in the Garden of Gethsemane “if it is possible let this cup pass from me - NEVERTHELESS - not as I will but as YOU will!” (Matthew 26:39). This will was the will of Triune GOD, decided before time eternity - by GOD The SON as much as The FATHER and The SPIRIT. But in HIS Incarnation, as the SON of Man, JESUS had to choose to yield HIS will, to seek HIS FATHER’s face, to pray - for HE limited HIMSELF in HIS humanity, left behind HIS overwhelming, overpowering Glory and clothed HIMSELF in frail humanity. HE came to rescue man, to atone for our sin and rebellion, to redeem man as MAN; HE had to live as a man, with all of humanities limitations - and HE asks nothing of us that HE didn’t have to face in HIS humanity!

 

 

He took the punishment of our sin upon HIMSELF, endured the righteous wrath of, and separation from, ALMIGHTY GOD that was our destiny, because “The wages of sin is death!” But death could not hold HIM down and GOD raised HIM up by the power of HIS SPIRIT, and The SON of GOD now reconciles every repentant sinner, that meets HIM at The Cross, to HIS FATHER!

 

This is LOVE, this is Grace, this is mercy - this is the longing of GOD - FATHER, SON and HOLY SPIRIT for each and every one of us. 

 

(C) Cheryl Howard 2008

“Come hither, come to ME every one of you who feels fatigued & wearied from your hard work & toil, you who labour with wearisome effort; & you who have grown weary, tired & are exhausted with the burdens & grief you are carrying. Come all of you who are overburdened, loaded up & weighed down, who are carrying too much; & also you who are heavy laden with ‘ceremony’ & spiritual anxiety!

I will refresh you, give you rest, an intermission from your labour; I will cause you to cease from any labour or movement & give you ease & repose from your cares - & you can remain, exempt & resting, until you have recovered strength!

Be yoked together with ME & take upon yourself MY yoke; joined, connected & coupled together with ME. Come under MY yoke & pull together with ME; watch ME, learn & do as I do!

For I was humiliated, of low degree & low estate; & in the eyes of men I was not valued or regarded. Yet I endured this undeserved treatment with humility, gentleness of Spirit, a mild disposition & meekness. I was not occupied with ‘self’, & I refused to be self-assertive & to defend MYSELF. I endured this selflessly, without considering MYSELF, because I trusted in MY FATHER’s goodness & defence of ME! I relied solely & wholly upon HIM & would not think of MYSELF & retaliation. So learn from MY behaviour & MY response; be tied together with ME, understand, be united with ME – I am right here by your side, joined to you. Don’t fight, dispute, resist & strain, but understand & trust the goodness & justice of GOD. Leave your concerns in MY FATHER’s hands & let MY SPIRIT develop MY heart, MY mind, MY thoughts & feelings within you!

Then, as you learn & do this, you will truly find, you will see & perceive, you will obtain & get rest & refreshing for your souls. I will give you intermission from your labours & cares, I will cause your spirit – your ‘breath of life’ to recover, to find strength. In ME you will obtain ease & repose for your overburdened souls – you will be rested, refreshed & strengthened right to the very heart of you, to the very breath of your life.

For when you are joined together & coupled with ME, when you serve by MY side, side by side with ME; when you are yoked together with ME – then you will see & perceive how much better it is for you. You will find how easy MY yoke is; how good & kind & gracious, & how useful in every way it is for you to be coupled & pulling together with ME.

For whatever it is that I give you to carry; whatever tasks or service I give you as a burden to bear, they are so light, & easy to bear – for MY burden is light in weight, not at all heavy for you to carry!”

 

 

 

 

thought for the journey ….

 We all experience times, even seasons, of weariness, where we feel like we’ve been ‘fighting the good fight of faith’ for so long we are at the end of ourselves! We’ve lost sight of the ‘light’ at the end of the tunnel - and we may even be tempted to just sit down, close our eyes, and ‘give up!’ Where The LORD’s command in Ephesians 6:10-17 to ’stand against …stand …& stand therefore’, in other words to - stand, stand, stand seems impossible to obey. For those days our Loving GOD has already told us what we must do - come to HIM; roll our cares and concerns into HIS all-powerful arms and let HIM carry them, and us!

JESUS asks nothing of us HE didn’t walk HIMSELF - and the worst we can ever endure pales against the load HE bore in HIS humanity, upon HIS frail human shoulders as EMMANUEL, GOD with us, for our sakes! HE modelled perfectly a life that knew how to ‘go to The FATHER’ - an example for us to follow!

 

Isaiah 40:28-31“Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Everlasting GOD, The LORD, The CREATOR of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary. HIS understanding is unsearchable. HE gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might HE increases strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall, but those who wait upon The LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint!”

What an incredible promise The LORD GOD ALMIGHTY gives to HIS children - HIS Divine exchange; strength for our weakness! But first we must learn the art of ‘waiting’ upon HIM - make no mistake though, this is no ‘passive’ waiting HE is talking about, it is an ‘expectant’ waiting. To wait upon HIM is ‘to bind ourselves together with HIM, to entwine our lives with HIS!’

All that we need HE has, all that we lack HE is - all that we yearn for is found in HIM - HE is ALL we require! The Answer to the deepest cry and longing, the fiercest hunger and desire of the human heart is CHRIST The SAVIOR - truly we were formed for HIM!

 

We must ever keep our vision steadfast upon HIM, our hearts tied to HIS, seeking HIM afresh each new day - for HE is our ‘Bread of Life’, come down from heaven to feed us! We must look to HIM and no other - HE must be The One we run to first, and foremost, when we find ourselves staggering under our load, struggling to see the path ahead. To CHRIST we must flee and hie for refuge! HE is our Fortress, our Safe Haven - our Strength.

Isaiah 26:3-4 “YOU will keep him in perfect peace whose mind (imagination and purpose) is stayed on YOU, because he trusts in YOU. Trust in The LORD forever; for in YAH The LORD, is everlasting strength.”