(C) Cheryl Howard 2008

The hand of GOD is everywhere

The heart of GOD revealed

The wonder of nature HIS glory declares,

Though HIS Person it is concealed.

HIS voice it speaks abundantly

Proclaiming loud HIS Life

HE speaks in sunrise, joy and ease

In sunset, suffering, calm and strife, HIS longing is to give us Life!

HE has writ HIS passion in stars above

And in the depths of oceans green

For you and me HE shouts HIS love

To every hungry soul can it be seen!

HE flung the galaxies far and wide

HIS extravagant heart shown forth

Ordained the moon and set the tides

To win our hearts HIS burning desire, since long before our birth!

thought for the journey …

Psalm 19:1-3 “The heavens declare the glory of GOD; and the firmament shows HIS handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard.”

Humanity knows, deep in our hearts that there is A Creator. We know that there is more to life than just this life. We are without excuse. Eternity is in our hearts - put there by GOD HIMSELF (Ecclesiastes 3:11 “HE has made everything beautiful in its time. Also HE has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that GOD does from beginning to end.”).

The question we must answer is, “WHO is this GOD?” And once we have settled that we must face the next question, “What is our response to HIM?”

For GOD HIMSELF declares WHO HE is in Isaiah 46:9-10 “Remember the former things of old, for I am GOD, and there is no other; I am GOD, and there is none like ME, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done, saying, ‘MY counsel shall stand, and I will do all MY pleasure.’”

We may not know all the answers, but GOD does, HE is All-Knowing; we may not know all that GOD is doing and has done - but HE knows! HE knows! What confidence that knowledge should instill within our hearts - HE knows! And HIS voice calls out to each of us; to come to HIM, to yield to HIM in trust; to give earnest heed to HIS voice, to HIS Word; to obey and to love HIM - to meet HIM at the foot of The Cross! The Cross that shouts HIS love for humanity.

Acts 4:12 “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other Name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved!” (Acts 4:10 …”by the Name of JESUS CHRIST of Nazareth, …”)

GOD has revealed HIMSELF - in HIS creation, and literally in HIS Incarnate SON JESUS - John 14:9 “… He who has seen ME has seen The Father; …” John 10:30 “I and MY FATHER are One.”

So let us walk in CHRIST’s footsteps, following the example HE set for us in HIS humanity - John 6:38 “For I have come down from heaven, not to do MY own will, but the will of HIM Who sent ME.”

Let us also, live a life of desire for and obedience to the FATHER’s will in everything, for this is HIS promise to us in HIS SON - John 10:9-10 “I am the Door. If anyone enters by ME, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly!”

(C) Cheryl Howard 2008

HE loved you in the ancient past

Before breath or life, or earth were cast

HE yearned that you would know HIS heart

And from HIS Presence not wish to depart

HE knows you like no other can

And longs to shield you in HIS hands

For you HE would move heaven and earth

That in HIS SON you would find new birth

Your weaknesses, failings and your sins

Are not hid but transparent to HIM

Nothing you do can drive HIM away

HE has pledged HIS heart by your side to stay

O do not shut The Most High out

HE woos you in a whisper, a shout

Do not let treacherous pride deceive

To know HIM was your life conceived!

HE is wisdom and power, purity and love

You HE created – this GOD reigns above

HE is SPIRIT and SON and FATHER – yet One

HE’ll never cease calling till home you have come!

thought for the journey …

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.”

Don’t make the mistake of confusing GOD’s longsuffering with indifference! HE is anything but indifferent to our sin! HE is anything but indifferent to us! CHRIST came to save all humanity, HE died for all of our sins, to impart HIS righteousness to each of us; HE arose in victory to give all of us eternal life - that we might be HIS very own.

This is HIS heart toward us, HIS desire for us - that we would know HIM through the washing and cleansing of HIS spilled blood upon Calvary’s crude wooden beams. This is redemption - in the words of the old song; ‘HE paid a debt HE did not owe, we owed a debt we could not pay’. HE took our place and now HE calls us to HIMSELF; to repent, to turn back to our GOD and away from our sin and self rule; to confess our desperate need of HIM, of HIS grace and mercy, every moment of every day - and of HIS forgiveness of our wicked and sin filled rebellion against HIM, our LORD and CREATOR!

There is only One True GOD and only One Way to HIM - JESUS CHRIST, GOD in flesh, The WAY, The TRUTH and The LIFE …. and you are loved by HIM, desired by HIM, sought by HIM and called by HIM.

2 Corinthians 6:2 “For HE says: ‘In an acceptable time I have heard you, and in the day of salvation I have helped you.’ Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation!”

You are an agent of free-will, and only you can decide your destiny, your eternal destiny - will you cry ‘Yes LORD’ to JESUS and yield your life to HIm? Will you receive the forgiveness HE offers you and you so desperately need? Will you be reconciled to GOD your CREATOR at the foot of the Cross? Or will you reply ‘No thanks. I’ll do it my way!’?

We don’t have long left on planet earth - and it’s not because of ‘global warming’, it is because of the promise of GOD - HE has numbered earth’s days and HE is returning. JESUS is coming again, much sooner than we realise, the countdown is far advanced and HE will return to separate and judge the world. When HE returns for HIS own - will you be among them? HE has made it clear where HE wants you to be. The choice is yours!

2 Peter 3:10-13 “But the day of The LORD will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. Therefore since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming day of GOD, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervant heat? Nevertheless we, according to HIS promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.”

(C) Cheryl Howard 2008

There is naught can overwhelm me, for I’m sheltered in YOUR arms

No raging waters drown me, for my enemy YOU’ve disarmed

When about me there is paucity and lack on every side

In YOUR Presence I find abundance as my life in CHRIST YOU hide

HE is my Place of calm in the midst of life’s wild storms

HE Alone my Rock, my Refuge; in HIM I’ve been reborn

My Great and Wondrous SHEPHERD, who plucks my life from danger

Gathered me to HIS heart, this Glorious LORD who lay in a manger

YOU fill my soul with wonder, of YOUR love I am most sure

YOU are my dearest companion, for YOU I was formed for

When about me is despair, dismay and disarray

YOU keep me close beneath YOUR wings, safely tucked away

Whether the path is lit with sunshine or dark clouds hover near

It is HE who carries me, HIS love and power chase away all fear

For nothing it can harm me, or touch me deep inside

For HE hides me in HIS heart, as in HIS SON I do abide.

thought for the journey ….

Habakkuk 3:19 “The LORD GOD is my strength; HE will make my feet like deer’s feet, and HE will make me walk on my high hills.”

2 Corinthians 4:16-18 “For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more and exceeding eternal weight of glory; while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”

How important it is to have an eternal perspective on life - to view it through the lens of the goal at which we are aiming and heading for; to be conformed into the likeness and image of JESUS; our Great GOD and SAVIOR!

 If we look only at the here and now we can easily become discouraged, but if we glimpse life from GOD’s view then like the eagle we will soar. It is as we learn to walk in The SPIRIT - in other words constantly led by The SPIRIT of GOD, in intimacy with HIM, listening for HIS voice, and obeying HIM - that we learn to overcome the challenges and obstacles of life. They don’t go away, they don’t magically shrink and disappear, but we rise up in the strength of our GOD, we soar with HIM and from our ‘elevated’ vantage point we see them in their proper perspective - very small and surmountable! When we walk in the flesh - led by our own selfish lusts and desires - then almost any little challenge can floor and overcome us, for we are weak and ‘earthbound’! We need to focus on GOD, on HIS power, ability and goodness - to lift up our eyes and see how Great, Glorious and Awesome our GOD truly is.

GOD is in this journey of life with us for the long haul - HE has eternity in mind, and HE is doing a work within us that will endure for eternity. HE isn’t interested in wood, hay and stubble - so neither should we be!

(C) Cheryl Howard 2008 

But I will sing of YOUR power, YOUR strength, YOUR might & boldness, I will stroll about like a minstrel telling of YOUR Majesty, of YOUR force & the security there is in YOU, I will sing YOUR loud praise.

Yes I will sing aloud, I will cry out & shout for joy about & rejoice in YOUR mercy, & love strength & steadfastness, YOUR kindness, YOUR grace & goodness, YOUR faithfulness, YOUR pity toward us & YOUR devotion to us. I will sing of YOUR generosity, YOUR loyalty & YOUR beauty in the morning – at the start of each day, as the sun comes up at the dawn & breaking of a new day.

For YOU LORD have been my defence, my lofty, inaccessible cliff-like place, my high tower & fort. YOU have been my refuge, my retreat, my safe place to which I have fled, my escape in the day, the time, the moment & the heat of my troubles, when I am full of dismay because of the distress I find myself in. When I am in a narrow, tight place, when all around me causes me sorrow & anguish, when I feel closed in & crowded out. When I am in the midst of tribulation & affliction & my adversary & foes are closing in on me – YOU have been that safe place to which I can run & they can’t reach me!

thought for the journey ….

It is in the heart of humanity to seek and desire a ‘haven’, a ’safe-place’ - a ‘Place’ we can run to and find protection and security; but also a ‘Place’ where we can really be ourselves - unguarded, exposed ….. completely accepted just as we are …. seen, known and yet loved …..

1 John 4:10 “In this is love, not that we loved GOD, but that HE loved us and sent HIS SON to be the propitiation for our sins.” (HIS sacrificial death covered our sins, atoned for them and reconciled us to our merciful GOD)

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.”

What unmerited grace that Perfect, Sinless, Spotless GOD ALMIGHTY would call and choose us, would forgive our sins, would reconcile us to HIMSELF, would give us life, HIS Life, through the redemptive work of The Cross of Calvary - The Cross of the death and resurrection of GOD The SON! It is HE we all long for - whether we acknowledge that need or not; for we were created by HIM and for HIM - to know HIM in the warm and intimate fellowship that comes from yielding our lives and wills to HIS at the foot of Calvary, and living to bring HIM glory all the days allotted to us …. HE is our Haven!

Oh the joy and the peace that awaits those who would heed HIS call and wisely ‘choose’ The LORD as their Refuge, their Bolt-Hole - their Rescuer!

Isaiah 26:3 “YOU will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on YOU, because he trusts in you. Trust in The LORD forever, for in YAH, The LORD, is everlasting strength!”

(C) Cheryl Howard 2008

O have you heard the voice of GOD, the whisper of HIS words?

Have you felt HIS Presence near, the love that HE has stirred?

Have you wept in HIS embrace?

Felt HIS breath, warm, on your face?

For once you have, forever you’re changed,

Your heart so captured, your soul rearranged!

You will pursue this Wondrous LORD,

Your “self” lay down upon your sword.

In life you’ll rise to follow HIM,

This Awesome SAVIOR, Captivating KING.

No more will you seek selfish desire,

For HIM you’ll adore, this Matchless MESSIAH

This world no more can hold your heart,

From its treasures and riches you will joyfully depart.

The hand of GOD resting warm on your back,

HIS intimate closeness, O what could you lack!

For I have met this Glorious GOD,

In the face of HIS SON, Root of Jesse’s Rod.

For this world I am ever ruined, I so gladly confess,

For HIM my heart overflowing with more love than can express.

My life is now poured out in an offering of praise,

In the highways and the byways the message of HIS grace I’ll raise.

For the longing in my soul is to see HIS heart rejoice,

As one by one HIS prodigals come home when hear HIS voice!

thought for the journey …

Ephesians 1:17 “that The GOD of our LORD JESUS CHRIST, The FATHER of glory, may give to you The SPIRIT of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of HIM,”

What an amazing, life altering promise - GOD The FATHER gives us HIS HOLY SPIRIT to indwell us when we yield to HIM at Calvary’s foot and rise up as followers of JESUS (John 16:7 “Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, The HELPER will not come to you; but if I depart I will send HIM to you.”).

It is HE, The SPIRIT of Truth, sent by FATHER and SON (John 15:26) Who reveals the heart, mind, character, nature and will of GOD to us - in short, HE discloses and manifests WHO GOD is …. that we might know HIM increasingly, growing in the grace and knowledge of our LORD JESUS CHRIST ….

Philippians 3:10 “that I may know HIM and the power of HIS resurrection, and the fellowship of HIS sufferings, being conformed to HIS death,”

2 Peter 3:18 “but grow in the grace and knowledge of our LORD and SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST. To HIM be the glory both now and forever. Amen.”

Our Beloved SAVIOR GOD wants us to know HIM, HE desires intimacy with us - HE is The GOD Who speaks (as Abraham discovered thousands of years ago, from The Self-Revealing ONE) - what treasure, what privilege, what honor we have, what an opportunity; let’s grab it with all of our being - pursue the knowledge, the ‘knowing’ of our Glorious, Mighty GOD, Who walked this earth Incarnate, and now indwells all those who have been born again, who are followers, disciples, believers in The CHRIST and HIS Mighty Cross…. How dearly HE loves us, how could we ever offer HIM anything less than a totally surrendered and yielded life that loves, adores and obeys HIM? How can we do anything less than preach HIS Good News to all we know and love?

Don’t you desire to know HIM, to know HIS heart, to have HIM share HIS heart and secrets with you?

Psalm 25:14 “The secret of The LORD is with those who fear HIM, and HE will show them HIS covenant.”

(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

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.”