(C) Cheryl Howard 2008

You awaken in deepest night overwhelmed and daunted

From a sleep by troubled dreams disturbed and haunted

Pursued by failures and inadequacies you are hunted

Long to grow in love and truth, yet feel so poor and stunted

You lay there in the suffocating quiet of pre-dawn

No tears escape your open eyes as your heart it mourns

Cannot evade the purpose of your rescued life reborn

So yearn to please this SAVIOR, to Whom your love you’ve sworn

Frustration and despair groan loudly deep within,

“How can you fall so ripe into weakness and to sin?”

You know every word of GOD is sure and true,

And how to rise in overcoming what you must do!

Yet so often do you find your footsteps stumble

You determine to choose life yet fail and fumble.

Can you not see it is your weakness can keep you humble,

If you depend wholly on HIS grace and do not amble?

Each time you slip and falter, run resolute into HIS arms

Choose daily to seek HIS heart, HE Who keeps your life from harm

O never hide in shame but in HIS warm embrace

You will find in mercy, every accusation you can face

HE knows your every weakness, your selfish frailty

Your soul it is HE longs for, not your animosity

A broken, contrite heart, yielded to HIM is the key

So come in your utter hopelessness and choose This Deity!

thought for the journey …

Do you sleep easy at night, or are your nighttime hours troubled and tormented? Do you languish under a heavy weight of nameless failure and guilt? Do you walk confident in the Light of GOD’s close Presence? Or do you stagger in dim darkness, banging into one obstacle after another and find yourself reeling and disoriented? Do you feel like you walk alone? Or do you sense the warm hand of your Loving Heavenly FATHER holding yours tight as HE leads you?

We all fail, we all sin (I’m not talking about wilfull, intentional sin and rebellion - that’s a completely different scenario), and the Apostle Paul so eloquently captured our struggle in Romans chapter 7 …..verse 18-19 “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice.” verse 24-25a “O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank GOD - through JESUS CHRIST our LORD!”

Do you let your failures devour your faith?

Hebrews 4:15-16 “For we do not have a HIGH PRIEST who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

It is not how many times we stumble and fall that matters - it is how many times we get back up and run confessing our failure, into the arms of our Loving, Merciful, Forgiving SAVIOR!

Pride keeps us away from GOD when we fall, shame at our our own failure - we should know better, we should be able to do better, be better… humility sends us running to HIS throne of grace, throwing ourselves upon HIS mercy, crying out for HIS help, HIS strength - for HIM to change us….

GOD is not like some medicine we take once and we are immune to the pull of sin and failure, nor is HE Someone distant who has stamped our passport to heaven in JESUS and pretty much leaves us to ourselves until HE calls us home; we don’t just check in occasionally with HIM … we need to walk close with GOD every single day, every minute of every day. HE is not a program we signed up to - HE is A Person and we are saved and called into an intimate relationship with HIM. We need HIM, HIS Presence, HIS voice, HIS forgiveness, HIS guiding always and all ways!

Imagine walking down a severely pot-holed road, in the dark, with a blind-fold on - and trying to avoid falling into one of those pot-holes!  That is life without the intimate Presence of GOD by our side, for it is HE, in CHRIST, who removes our blind-fold and lights the road in front of us, HE who then takes us by the hand and leads us along the path of ‘Life’ safely!

Let HIM be your closest Friend and Companion - lay your heart and soul bare before HIM. Let CHRIST in, don’t shut HIM out; trust implicitly in the complete work of HIS Cross. Trust in HIM - in HIS LORDSHIP - let HIM lead; try doing life ‘HIS way’ 

HIS grace is sufficient for you!

(2 Corinthians 12:9 “And HE said to me, ‘MY grace is sufficient for you, for MY strength is made perfect in weakness.’ …”)

(C) Cheryl Howard 2008

I love sitting at the feet of my LORD

Hanging with joy on HIS every word

There is no other place I would rather be

Than spending time, BELOVED - just YOU and me

Oh HIS Presence lights my gloomiest hour

HIS Radiance washes over me – refreshing power

Such tenderness and patience I can’t describe

Oh YOUR Splendour has my heart mesmerised

HE speaks and my soul explodes with HIS Life

HE floods me with HIS Peace and takes away my strife

As HE wraps me in HIS Love, a warm embrace

It is YOU who are my Refuge – my Safe Eternal Place

I never want to be apart from YOU

Not even a breath to be between we two

Could not bear the thought of a moment without YOU

Want YOU forever BELOVED – by YOUR side in all I do

YOU are the Lover of my soul from tender years

YOU are my Hero and YOU conquer all my fears

My heart forever held within YOUR own

YOU wipe my tears and YOUR arms will bring me Home

How I long and sigh so deeply for that Day

When this world by sin will no more be held sway

Oh my Champion, come in YOUR Power and YOUR Light

And bring YOUR loved ones home in YOUR Matchless Might

We YOUR Bride await with oiled lamps, watching and ready

Follow YOU Alone through life, unerring and steady

Our eyes are fixed on YOU and no one else

For YOU are our Reward and our heart’s Wealth!

thought for the journey ….

Live one day at a time - not careless over tomorrow, but free from the ‘cares’ of tomorrow!

We have all heard that worry is the opposite of trust - yet for many the challenge to let go of the worries and concerns of an unsure and unknown tomorrow is a hurdle they find almost insurmountable.

How do I stop worrying and move from anxiety to trust?

The key is found in the very character and nature of our GOD and SAVIOR. It is as we grow in our knowledge of HIM, and our intimacy with HIM, that we learn we have nothing to fear - because HE is greater and more powerful than anything we could face. Genuine trust comes out of relationship. It is almost impossible to trust The LORD if you haven’t discovered, and therefore don’t know, that HE is trustworthy! It is beyond us to stop fearing ‘giants’ if we haven’t learnt that GOD is OMNIPOTENT - All Powerful! It is unbelievably difficult to cease from dreading devastation and harm if we don’t truly know that ALMIGHTY GOD is good and desires wholeheartedly to do us good!

Romans 8:28 “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love GOD, to those who are called according to HIS purpose.”

Our SAVIOR does understand our tendancy to worry, anxiety and fearfulness - that is why HIS Word to us is so full of counsel and instruction to ‘not worry’, to ‘not fear’, to ‘be anxious for nothing…..’ But HE doesn’t stop there - HE tells us why we must not worry, and in the telling HE shows us how.

Philipians 4:6-8“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to GOD; and the peace of GOD, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through CHRIST JESUS. Finally brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy - meditate on these things.”

Fear, anxiety and worry will not vacate on their own - they must be banished, and the surest way of banishing their nasty little presence is to follow the counsel of GOD’s Word. Take your burdens to your Loving Heavenly FATHER in prayer - release them into HIS caring and capable hands. Fill your mind with praise and thanksgiving, fill your thoughts with HIS Word - meditate on it, and as you do you will discover HIM, HIS goodness, faithfulness, mercy, long-suffering, kindness, patience, compassion, power, purity, holiness, righteousness…

HE has promised HIS own in Hebrews 13:5-6 “Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For HE Himself has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’ So we may boldly say: ‘The LORD is my Helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?’” and that is why JESUS commanded us in Matthew 6:33-34 “But seek first the Kingdom of GOD and HIS righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”

(C) Cheryl Howard 2006

Insidious those creeping sins

They steal your life if you let them in

They cloud the purity of your purpose and vision

And plunge you again onto the Valley of Indecision

A rigorous and vigilant call

HE gives to those who want HIS all

Where ‘Self’ is sacrificed each day

For those who choose HIS Great High Way

Where joy it flows unhindered for those who heed HIS voice

A mountain path festooned with peace awaits this godly choice

There is a way that offers ease for those it would deceive

A convoluted, deadly course; for such HIS heart does grieve

For we are called to follow the path that GOD first set

Where laying down your life matters more than your needs met

It rubs against our grain, so we resist it fearing pain

Hear HIS wondrous voice echoing through time – in dying do we gain!

So hurl aside those sins that so readily do beset

Take up the yoke of CHRIST, HIS enabling you will get

Set your eyes upon HIS Face, your hopes upon HIS Heart

You will walk within HIS Grace, and of HIS Richness have a part!

thought for the journey …

Paul talked about our wretched struggle in finding ourselves doing the things we don’t want to, and know we shouldn’t, and not doing the things we want to, and know we should. Sometimes we have used this as an excuse to justify our bad or disobedient behaviour. The truth is - if you read Romans chapters 7-8 where he addresses this lifelong battle in our flesh and our wills - that he is not saying we are powerless and doomed to failure, what he is laying out for us is the choice we make between two paths.

The path of ‘walking in the flesh’ and the path of ‘walking in The SPIRIT’.

If we walk in the flesh, dictated to by it’s selfish and wilfull demands then we will fail and fall - but if we choose to walk led by The HOLY SPIRIT of ALMIGHTY GOD, then we will actually be empowered to overcome the raging appetites of the flesh and walk in victory. That is why we are told in Romans 12:1-2  to “lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto JESUS, The Author and Finisher of our faith …”

So often we hear Romans 8:1 quoted “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in CHRIST JESUS!”

Yet many defeated christians walk and live feeling very condemned, and they try to rid themselves of this sense of condemnation by telling themselves they are ‘free of condemnation’ and these feelings are just lies from the pit of hell - an effort that produces pitiful results. Why?

The rest of the verse, so often left out, sheds much light on our dilemma “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in CHRIST JESUS, who do not walk (live) according to the flesh but according to The SPIRIT!” If we are walking and living in and by the demands of our flesh, our sinful nature, then the truth is we do feel guilt and its burden - it is like our conscience, warning us that we need to repent and confess.

That is not the time to silence its ‘condemning’ voice, that is the time to listen and to run to our Gracious and Merciful GOD Who has promised us in 1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins HE is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” We should give no room to any voice that condemns us once we have confessed our sin and failure - for HE lavishes us with HIS cleansing grace; but it is futile and foolish to try to silence its warning if we are wilfully sinning without repentance.

Once we have repented and confessed, then we rest in the assurance of HIS cleansing, for that is the work of HIS Cross - HE is ‘The Justifier’ of us; it is because of HIS shed Blood, HIS Sacrifice on our behalf, that HE can justly declare us forgiven and guiltless. HE Who is Faithful and can be depended upon to wash us clean!

It is the Truth that sets us free - that is why it is imperative that we don’t mishandle the Word of GOD, that we ‘rightly divide the Word of Truth’ (2 Timothy 2:15), so that we can walk in liberty and freedom, in overcoming power and victory through our LORD JESUS CHRIST! Half truths and omissions are not The Truth that will set us free to walk in HIS footsteps and conform us to HIS likeness.

How often have you heard - “Draw near to GOD and HE will draw near to you.” James 4:6 actually says “Draw near to GOD and HE will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands you sinners and purify your hearts you double-minded.” Notice we don’t have to ‘clean up our act’ before we can draw near, but once we have drawn near, and if we wish to remain near, then we must ‘clean up our act.’

The good news is that though we do have a part to play it isn’t our efforts that produce clean hands and a pure heart - it is the empowering of GOD’s HOLY SPIRIT, as we abide in HIS purifying Presence, and yield to the continuing work of The Cross within our lives! You cannot stay ‘near’ to ALMIGHTY GOD, intimate with HIM, and continue to willfully sin - HIS Holy Presence would bring such a depth of conviction upon you that like the prophet Isaiah of old you would cry out, “Woe is me, for I am undone! I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen The KING, The LORD of hosts.” Isaiah 6:5

We can walk victorious over the clamoring lusts of the flesh - by walking in and with The SPIRIT of GOD, close to and intimate with HIM; repenting and confessing whenever HE brings conviction, living in the forgiveness of our SAVIOR, and staying near!

(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 are days when my sight of YOU, tis clouded

When the closeness of YOUR Presence emerges shrouded

Days a weighty fog upon me rests

Seasons when my constancy YOU test

What is not of faith YOU said is sin

Will I choose to trust and to YOU cling?

When the path I walk is grey and fraught with gloom?

Under my feet lay obstacles and I feel trapped in confined room?

The work of Grace YOU told me true, it comes from YOU

So in patient suffering I choose to yield, as it YOU lovingly do

I may not know the way YOU lead, but of YOU I can be sure

The journey that I take YOU choose, so to YOU keep my heart pure

For YOU I long to please, more than any other thing

To fill YOUR Precious heart with joy – and to YOU glory bring!

So upon myself I dare not trust, not even for a minute

On YOU Alone I do depend, and have no life unless YOU’re in it!

I love YOU in my frailty, and my failing, feeble ways

Long for YOU more than any other O BELOVED Ancient of Days

Even in my fears and doubts YOUR goodness I know is true

In YOUR heart of Love I stand secure, anchored SAVIOR in YOU!

thought for the journey ….

It is so important that we know and understand the heart, the character, and the nature of our Loving Heavenly FATHER, of our SAVIOR JESUS and of HOLY SPIRIT - our Comforter, Counsellor, Guide and Teacher. If we don’t we can fall prey to believing the lies of our accusers - be they harsh and challenging circumstances, disappointment, disillusionment, despair, or the enemy of our souls - the devourer.

Contrary to popular belief our GOD doesn’t promise us an easy, trouble free life - HE does promise us HIS peace in the midst of life’s challenges, and ultimate victory; HE does tell us to be of good cheer (in spite of tribulations) because  HE has overcome the world! (John 16:33 “These things I have spoken to you, that in ME you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world!”) 

And HE does promise to work all things together for the good of those who love HIM and are called according to HIS purposes (not our own purposes and agendas but HIS - we need to yield our own and trust in HIM!) (Romans 8:28).

If our expectations of GOD are not grounded in truth then we can become embittered, accusational and angry at HIM when HE appears to fail in the delivery of them! Our SAVIOR JESUS is actually more interested in our holiness than our happiness (1 Peter 1:15-16 “But as HE who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, ‘Be holy for I am Holy.’”). HE did not create us common, for ‘common’ use, but HE is making of our lives something of exceptional ‘uncommon’ beauty, set apart for HIM.

Yes, HE promises us joy, HIS joy, in HIS Presence (Psalm 16:11). In other words we can’t experience true joy unless we keep close to HIM, in an open, trusting, obedient and intimate relationship. We need to know and understand HIS patient purposes within us - what HE is doing in our lives and what HE is fashioning of us! And we need to yield to HIS Potter’s hands, resting trustingly in HIS goodness towards us. We were made for HIM! 

Ephesians 2:10 ”For we are HIS workmanship, created in CHRIST JESUS for good works, which GOD prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”

HE yearns to make of our lives such a thing of beauty that it will endure for all eternity; so pure and selfless that it will be radiant with HIS glory, and will delight HIS heart.

HE is working to restore in us the beauty of HIS image that our sin has marred and destroyed beyond recognition.

And just as intense heat purifies gold, stripping it of mixture and dross, and as almost unbearable pressure and heat turns common carbon atoms into diamonds, so HE uses difficulties, pressures, challenges and trials to bring forth in us exquisite, pure, radiant and lasting beauty!

(C) Cheryl Howard 2008

How I cherish solitude, in YOUR Presence tucked away,

Distractions that would clamor for YOUR time are held at bay.

Such joyful, blissful luxury to take the time for YOU,

In quietness and restfulness, to hear YOUR point of view.

O how can pen and paper ever adequately convey,

The joy that I experience as I seek YOU day by day?

For YOU Beloved light up my path as I follow in YOUR Ways,

And oh the riches to be found, for all who hear what YOU would say.

As I shut out all other sounds, I hear YOU call to me,

YOU bid me enter Holy Place, in YOUR SON YOU set me free,

YOU whisper to me words of life, of hope, of sanctity,

YOUR sacrifice upon the Cross YOU tell me was for me!

YOU love me without measure, how I long to love YOU so

For all YOU’ve done for me, this world’s ends I’ll gladly go

For YOUR heart must be shared, YOUR treasure offered wide

YOU call to all humanity to be sheltered by YOUR side!

My heart it is so full I can scarce it express

The beauty of YOUR soul, so wondrous and largess

YOUR tender, loving grace as I my sins confess

Within the embrace of Calvary, in YOU LORD do I rest!

thought for the journey …

Time alone with our Mighty SAVIOR! - In truth it is not a luxury, it is a costly privilege (it cost HIM HIS very Life), and it is a desperate need that all followers of The CHRIST share. HE is our Life and we need to walk with HIM daily - in the security of closeness and intimacy. We require HIS voice above all others - we live in a world that is awash with a cacophony of voices, a marketplace of ‘points of view’, of ‘opinions’ and of ‘truths’!

So what of HIM? - HE Who boldly announced: I AM The WAY,

                                                                              The TRUTH,

                                                                        and The LIFE - no one comes to The FATHER except through ME! (John 14:6)

Do we really believe HIS words, do we truly believe HIM? We reveal what is secretly cherished in our hearts by how we live life! Do we draw aside to be in HIS Presence? Do we listen eagerly for HIS voice? Do we hasten to obey when HE speaks? Do we really know HIM? Do we even want to know HIM!  Do we long for HIS company as HE does ours?

Hear the longing anguish of GOD’s heart for HIS relentlessly wayward people - Hosea 11:8“How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I set you like Zeboiim? MY heart churns within ME; MY sympathy is stirred.”

If we have no deep desire to seek out HIS company above all others, no longing to simply be alone with HIM, then we reveal that we don’t know HIM; oh we may have an acquaintance with HIM, we may have enough relationship to say ‘hi, how are you going?’ every now and then, and speak about mostly superficial things, we may even scream out ‘help’ whenever we find ourselves in trouble - but if we have not taken the time to “Taste and see that The LORD is Good!” (Psalm 34:8a) then we will desire the company of others before HIS. What a tragic loss that is - for us!

No one is more riveting, exciting, holy, glorious, compelling, exquisite and desirable than our Great GOD and CREATOR, HE is alltogether lovely, perfect in every way - and that HE desires you and me ought to make us tremble with awe in HIS Holy Presence. We are not worthy of HIM, we don’t deserve HIM, we are foul in our pride, sin and self-will - yet HE loves us, HE died in our place, HE bore our sins, took our judgment, endured our punishment so that HE could reconcile us to HIMSELF.

If our hearts have grown cold towards HIM, or indifferent, then let us swiftly repent - let us turn again to follow hard after HIM, to pore over HIS Word and to earnestly listen for HIS voice, and to joyfully obey, counting it the honor that it is! 

Hosea 6:1a,3 “Come and let us return to The LORD;”  “Let us know, let us pursue the knowledge (not head knowledge, but heart knowing) of The LORD, HIS going forth is established as the morning; HE will come to us like the rain, like the latter and former rain to the earth.”

Hosea 10:12 “Sow for yourselves righteousness: reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek The LORD, till HE comes and rains righteousness on you.”

(C) Cheryl Howard 2008

For you HE gladly sacrificed HIS all,

Held nothing back and now to you HE calls:

“Come walk with ME upon the upward path,

Leave behind the downward spiral of sin’s aftermath,

No longer stagger round on mist-filled plains,

Where fitting in and compromise are viewed as gains,

Let ME take you daily by the hand,

And lift your view above the hazy lands.”

This world that appears so real is like a dream,

A prelude of preparation where all is not as it seems.

Look to HIM and light will pierce the gloom,

HIS joy will flood your life and fill each room.

There is a purpose to each breath you take,

To prove your worth HIS life was nailed to a stake.

For GOD created you to know and love HIS heart,

To cherish HIM as HE does you is where the journey starts.

An adventure of such epic scale,

HE writes with you your own grand tale.

O hear HIS cry and let it stir your soul,

In you HE’ll form HIS likeness til you’re whole.

The trail it winds uphill, narrow and steep,

The view you glimpse will thrill you as HE speaks.

For you have not been called to walk this way alone,

Never will HE abandon you, unerringly HE’ll lead you home!

Such glory it awaits, that takes all breath away,

Such treasure has HE stored for you to claim that distant day,

Such wonder and such love, in HIM is hid for you,

When you catch a glimpse you’ll follow HIM, with naught that you won’t do!

thought for the journey …

Psalm 16:11“YOU will show me the path of life; in YOUR Presence is fullness of joy; at YOUR right hand are pleasures forevermore.”

It is true that we should not be ’so heavenly minded that we are of no earthly use’, but an even greater danger that we must guard against is to be so ‘at home’ here we can scarce think of, let alone imagine, leaving this place! For if we find ourselves so comfortable here then the question begs asking - “Whom am I living to please? Who am I truly serving and living for?”

For it is by far the easier path to be like Aaron, The LORD’s priest, and stay at the base of Mount Sinai - the Mount of GOD’s Holy Presence, at ease amongst HIS people; busy, engaged and serving! It is surprisingly difficult for us to tread the ancient path that Moses alone walked - up the mountain - to be separate, apart and alone with ALMIGHTY GOD! And let us not forget that it was Moses, and not Aaron, who delighted and blessed the heart of GOD; Moses of whom The ALMIGHTY spoke so highly. Whose praise and approval do we seek?

Matthew 7:13-14 “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.”

Let us be those who choose the ‘narrow’ path, whose hearts desire is intimacy with ALMIGHTY. In truth it is the narrower path that leads to true liberality and freedom, and the broader ‘easy’ path that leads to bondage and oppression!

Colossians 3:1-4 “If then you were raised with CHRIST, seek those things which are above, where CHRIST is, sitting at the right hand of GOD. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with CHRIST in GOD. When CHRIST, Who is our life appears, then you also will appear with HIM in glory!”

Wow! What a hope, what a promise, what a future! Don’t be robbed by squandering this one brief life occupied and pre- occupied with this ‘world’ and its fake, passing, transient ‘treasures and pleasures’!