HIMSELF

Greetings, dear friends! First of all, thank you so much for your many encouraging comments which are so uplifting. Your kind thoughts are such an encouragement to this fellow pilgrim! What a blessing!

Perhaps I've not articulated this fact in simple words so let me do it here and now:

My posts on "the Barnabas Blog" are birthed in my own life experience. I pray that you can sense that. Usually I seek to encourage others out of my own hurts, my disappointments, my frustrations. My prayer is that "the Barnabas Blog" will NOT be a symposium of pat answers, pet peeves, "pit" experiences, pot shots and put downs but a true source of encouragement, born out in everyday living and grounded in the eternally relevant and wonderfully inerrant word of God.

Which reminds me of a scripture passage that comes back to me time and time again. Many years ago I was ministering to a ballplayer from a visiting team in Montreal and the Lord directed me to this powerful verse. The apostle Peter penned these glorious words, "And the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will Himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. To Him be the power for ever and ever, AMEN." - 1 Peter 5:10,11 (NIV)

Who restores and make us strong? God HIMSELF. Yes, He can and does use His people to come alongside suffering saints but He HIMSELF is the One who does the inner work of restoration and healing.

Rejoice in this truth today! If you are battling through a difficult circumstance, allow the God of all grace to extend that grace to you today in all its fullness. Know someone who is struggling? You can be an agent of reconciliation today. You can be God's hand extended to a hurting fellow pilgrim. God HIMSELF invites you to participate but He will effect the change. Hallelujah!

Have You "Been There"?

How often have you heard someone say, "I know what you're going through, I've been there", when you know that they have never experienced what you're facing. Empty, shallow words! When someone who has actually plumbed the depths of despair comes alongside you, you "know" that they understand what you're going through. There's a unique bonding of spirits. This has happened to me often and as recently as a couple of weeks ago, I sat down with a friend and realized that he knew exactly what I was battling.

Elizabeth Skoglund (see link) has penned an extremely helpful book, "Bright Days, Dark Nights" in which she tackles subjects like depression, loneliness, anxiety and change. She quotes extensively from the writings of the great preacher Charles Haddon Spurgeon who was no stranger to extended periods of dark depression. The following quote was illuminating and reassured me that when we go through the dark valleys, we are fitted and equipped to take the hands of others and lead them through when they face similar situations.

Spurgeon writes:

“I often feel very grateful to God that I have undergone fearful depressions of spirits. I know the borders of despair, and the horrible brink of that gulf of darkness into which my feet have almost gone; but hundreds of times I have been able to give a helpful grip to brethren and sisters who have come into that same condition, which grip I could never have given if I had not known their deep despondency. So I believe that the darkest and most dreadful experience of a child of God will help him to be a fisher of men if he will but follow Christ. Keep close to the Lord and He will make every step a blessing to you.” – Charles H. Spurgeon

Whatever the mountain that looms before you or the valley that you're struggling through, understand that a loving Father is walking every step with you and will use this "dark" time to enable you to help others. You are NOT alone. Take His hand and trust His heart.

Perplexed?

Last night I took an old classic by V. Raymond Edman, the Disciplines of Life, up to our bedroom to peruse. I'm glad I did! At the close of each chapter is a verse of a hymn or a poem that really drives the point of the chapter home.

One of these poems was penned by John Oxenham and entitled "God's Handwriting". Oxenham writes:

"He writes in characters too grand
For our short sight to understand;
We catch but broken strokes, and try
To fathom all the mystery
Of withered hopes, of death, of life,
The endless war, the useless strife -
But there, with larger clearer sight,
We shall see this - His way was right."

Having trouble understanding why God is allowing certain trials and heartaches to be so much a part of your life? You're not the only one! We can take solace in this certain fact...

"As for God, His way is perfect." - Psalm 18:30

Believe it, friend, for His Word is faithful and true!

Tozer Thoughts

Meditate Long and Often by A. W. Tozer

"I remember the days of old; I meditate on all Your works; I muse on the work of Your hands, I spread out my hands to You; my soul longs for You like a thirsty land." - Psalm 143:5-6 (KJV)

"Among Christians of all ages and of varying shades of doctrinal emphasis there has been fairly full agreement on one thing: They all believed that it was important that the Christian with serious spiritual aspirations should learn to meditate long and often on God.

Let a Christian insist upon rising above the poor average of current religious experience and he will soon come up against the need to know God Himself as the ultimate goal of all Christian doctrine.

Let him seek to explore the sacred wonders of the Triune Godhead and he will discover that sustained and intelligently directed meditation on the Person of God is imperative.

To know God well he must think on Him unceasingly. Nothing that man has discovered about himself or God has revealed any short cut to pure spirituality.

It is still free, but tremendously costly."

taken from That Incredible Christian (A. W. Tozer)

Be encouraged today, beloved friend, there is no limit to the heights we can climb and the depths we can explore as we seek to discover more about the One who redeemed us and called us by His name. And it's not just knowing "about" the triune God...it's knowing HIM -personally, deeply and richly. Begin the adventure today!

My dear Grandma Fisher tought me this poem close to 50 years ago:

"Follow on to know the Lord
Follow where He leads;
'Til the joy of knowing Him,
Ever joy exceeds."

Thought Provoking

Today I read the following quote on John Piper's Desiring God web site. See the link on the sidebar. Something to think about!

"The climax of God's happiness is the delight He takes in the echoes of His excellence in the praises of His people." - John Piper

God's Providential Care

Rebecca at Rebecca Writes (see link at the side), always posts a majestic and meaningful old hymn on Sundays. Today's choice is one of my favorites. As I went over the lyrics I realized that there's a word in there that is unknown to me. I could hazard a guess as to its meaning but I really don't know what "thralldom" means. What do you think? I'll post my suggested meaning and then look it up later. Now that can be dangerous! I think "thralldom" means the act of being enthralled with things that, looked at from an eternal perspective, are quite meaningless. Now I'll go and check it out. I'll keep you guessing though. Do you have a dictionary nearby?

Here's that wonderful hymn:

GUIDE ME O THOU GREAT JEHOVAH

Guide me, O Thou great Jehovah,
Pilgrim through this barren land.
I am weak, but Thou art mighty;
Hold me with Thy powerful hand.
Bread of Heaven, Bread of Heaven,
Feed me till I want no more;
Feed me till I want no more.

Open now the crystal fountain,
Whence the healing stream doth flow;
Let the fire and cloudy pillar
Lead me all my journey through.
Strong Deliverer, strong Deliverer,
Be Thou still my Strength and Shield;
Be Thou still my Strength and Shield.

Lord, I trust Thy mighty power,
Wondrous are Thy works of old;
Thou deliver’st Thine from thralldom,
Who for naught themselves had sold:
Thou didst conquer, Thou didst conquer,
Sin, and Satan and the grave,
Sin, and Satan and the grave.

When I tread the verge of Jordan,
Bid my anxious fears subside;
Death of deaths, and hell’s destruction,
Land me safe on Canaan’s side.
Songs of praises, songs of praises,
I will ever give to Thee;
I will ever give to Thee.

Musing on my habitation,
Musing on my heav’nly home,
Fills my soul with holy longings:
Come, my Jesus, quickly come;
Vanity is all I see;
Lord, I long to be with Thee!
Lord, I long to be with Thee!

- William Williams, known as the Isaac Watts* of Wales. This hymn was first written in Welsh

"For this God is our God for ever and ever; He will be our guide even to the end." - Psalm 48:14 (NIV)

My Father's Arms

Here's a post from the Pilgrim Scribblings archive that I thought might encourage you.

Recently I saw this picture in one of my mother's photo albums and asked her if I could borrow it to post here. This was taken back in 1946 when I was 15 months old. Didn't my father look handsome and manly? He was! Dad has gone "home" to be with our heavenly Father so I don't have him to stand behind me anymore but "my heavenly Father watches over me".

Reminds me of the words of a chorus I wrote way back in the 70's.

"Before me, behind me, Thy hand shall be upon me,

Thy right hand shall lead me and guide me always.

How precious Thy thoughts Lord to me, Thy new creation;

Now search me and know me and lead me to God."

Fall back into Father's arms and rest in Him. He'll stand behind you and strengthen you as you journey on.

"The eternal God is your refuge and underneath are the everlasting arms." - Deuteronomy 33:27

Comforting Words

Dear friends, I've returned from my travels and I've missed writing these daily notes of encouragement. I'm blessed as I post these thoughts and I trust that you are as well. I'll try to make up for the days I've missed. Have a great weekend and I trust that you will be enriched in your spirit as you worship the King on Sunday!

He's Leading the Way
(Comforting words by Moses)

"Do not be terrified, do not be afraid of them. The Lord your God, who is going before you, will fight for you, as He did for you in Egypt, before your very eyes, and in the desert. There you saw how the Lord your God carried you, as a father carries his son, all the way you went until you reached this place. In spite of this, you did not trust in the Lord your God, who went ahead of you on your journey, in fire by night and in a cloud by day, to search out places for you to camp and to show you the way you should go." - Deuteronomy 1:29-31

He still leads the way today! Why do we fear? He is the Lord our God and He bids us follow Him.
Be encouraged today, dear friends!

Winning Words

On the heels of my previous post I've been reminded of the words that should be part of every Christian believer's vocabulary. The list is certainly not definitive in any way. Just a few words to came to mind as I thought about the Incarnation. Could you define these glorious words and the accompanying truths if asked?

A partial list:

Redemption
Justification
Salvation
Humiliation
Incarnation
Propitiation
Substitutionary Atonement
Vicarious Suffering

"Redeemed how I love to proclaim it,
Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb."

"In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace" - Ephesians 1:7 (KJV)

Be encouraged today! God has done mighty things to accomplish our salvation without one iota of help from us. It's all of Him! It's all by grace! Hallelujah, what a Savior!

The Incarnation

Happy New Year, dear friends!

On the evening of our Christmas banquet with the Peterborough Petes one of the players admitted that he didn't know what one of the words in a poem I read really meant. The word was "Incarnate"! With the enabling of the Spirit of God I gave an explanation that my friend seemed satisfied with. St. Augustine penned the following words that give us deep meaning to the "wonder of the incarnation":

The Wonder of the Incarnation

He so loved us that, for our sake,
He was made man in time,
although through Him all times were made.
He was made man, who made man.
He was created of a mother whom He created.
He was carried by hands that He formed.
He cried in the manger in wordless infancy,
He the Word, without whom all human eloquence is mute.

-Augustine, Sermon 188, 2

Can you grasp that profound truth? Oh the wonder... May we never forget these truths that are foundational to our Christian faith!

"And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth." - John 1:14 (KJV)