Treasures in the Night

Hidden blessings awaited me,

My heart did crave to find,

Not treasures held in human hands,

These were a special kind.

I searched when sun was high and bright,

But they eluded me;

I climbed up to the mountaintop,

Searched down in low valley.

But as the sun was sinking low,

With darkness drawing nigh,

I felt my heart sink in despair

And I began to sigh..

What could I find as darkness fell?

'Twas difficult to see;

But God said, "Lift your eyes, My child,

Take My hand ~ walk with Me."

The blackened sky up overhead

Was oh so clear and bright,

And there God revealed His treasures

In absence of the light.

Diamonds bejeweled the velvet sky

Concealed by bright sunlight;

God said, "These are special blessings

Revealed in dark of night."

"Faith sparkles brightest when all light

Is dimmed from human eye ~

When your heart is filled with questions

Of Who? What? When? and Why?"

"There are jewels in the darkness

For those who walk with Me;

Faith's rich treasures," said the Father

"That'll last eternally."

Written by Linda J. Stevenson

"I will give you the treasure of darkness and hidden wealth of secret places, so that you may know that it is I, the LORD, the God of Israel, who calls you by name." ( Is. 45:3).

How I wish I was a Superhero

Have you ever felt like being like Superman or Spiderman--with a secret identity through which you can be all that your heart yearns to be as a child--a hero, a warrior for justice and peace, a symbol of noble power and sacrifice, a banner of hope and a future for mankind? Yet without the burden to be all that 24/7, you can whoosh through the air and bash baddies in the night, and wake up in the morning rush and disappear into the crowd of anonymity.

Yes, you can attempt all those great things and be the hero (or heroine) of your dreams. Live like there is no tight schedule, squashed bus rides, peak hour surcharges and ERP. Yet, you can still falter and stumble, wind down and be a normal human being. Your true worth remains intact behind the mask. Or at least you know there's something heroic and essential to the world dwelling right within you, even when your bosses shake their heads in disapproval in the day.

But we are not meant to live life in compartments. And often, the reward for doing something good, is to be given something good and harder to do. And interesting enough, the more you want to be just and fair, the more you are brought face to face with your own flaws, weaknesses and poor judgement.

I glad I'm not a superhero, and I do have a Superhero. He has come to save us from our selves and to find our true selves back. By the grace of God, I am who I am. I can attempt great things for God, and what a joy it is to know, that I can fail... In Christ, I have room for mistakes, because, unlike the world, its Conqueror sees the heart, not just the results.

And I am glad that 'the Lord isn’t looking for superheroes. He uses those of us who are flawed and frail, so that He can show His strength and grace. He wants those with a willing and available heart.' (http://www.rbc.org/devotionals/our-daily-bread/2008/11/08/devotion.aspx)

Thank You Lord for accepting me for who I am, and working in me to fulfill the wonderful destiny of becoming like Christ one day--complete and lacking in nothing.

Food for Reflection, Truth for Conviction

"Now Christ is the visible expression of the invisible God. He was born before creation began, for it was through him that everything was made, whether heavenly or earthly, seen or unseen. Through him, and for him, also, were created power and dominion, ownership and authority. In fact, all things were created through, and for, him. He is both the first principle and the upholding principle of the whole scheme of creation." (Colossians 1:15-17, Phillips)

Most of us labour under the delusion that we have every right to our lives; that we have the right to go where we wish, do as we please, live as we choose, and decide our own destiny. We do not. We belong to God. He made us for Himself. He chose us in Christ out of love, from before the foundation of the earth to be His own. He has bought us twice over, both through His generous death and also by His amazing resurrection life.

Every faculty I possess in my body, mind, emotions, will, disposition, and spirit has been entrusted to me as a gift, bestowed by the bounty of a generous, gracious, self-giving, self-sharing God in Christ. There is no such thing as a 'self-made' man or woman. To assert this is colossal conceit of the first magnitude. It is an affront to the living Lord who alone has a rightful claim on me.

Even the total earth environment, the biota, of which I am a part, and which sustains me during my brief earth sojourn is God's doing. Only at His pleasure is it maintained in perfect balance and poise. It provides the precise support mechanisms which insure my survival upon this sphere in space.

(Source: A Shepherd Looks at the Good Shepherd, by Phillip Keller)

"I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen, not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else."

C.S. Lewis

Thank You for having mercy upon me, my Lord!

Psalm 51

Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
blot out my transgressions.
Wash away all my iniquity
and cleanse me from my sin.


For I know my trangressions,
and my sin is always before me.
Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you are proved right before you speak
and justified when you judge.
Surely I was sinful at birth,
sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
Surely you desire truth in the inner parts;
you teach me wisdom in the inmost place.


Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
Let me hear joy and gladness;
let bones you have crushed rejoice.
Hide your face from my sins
and blot out all my iniquity.


Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me from your presence
or take your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation
and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.


Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
and sinners will turn back to you.
Save me from bloodguilt, O God,
the God who saves me,
and my tongue will sing of your righteousness.
O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will declare your praise.
You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it;
you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart,
O God, you will not despise.


In your good pleasure make your Kingdom prosper;
build up the walls of your Church.
Then there will be rigtheous sacrifices,
whole burnt offerings to delight you;
then souls and lives will be offered on your altar.

Christ is my career!

Tozer Devotional
Collective Writings from the Books of A.W. Tozer

The Set of the Sail
Chapter #22
Our Business is God (3/3)
Misunderstood Salt

For choosing God as our one all absorbing interest we Christians are sometimes scorned or written off as hopelessly narrow-minded. But must we apologize? Must we apologize that we have chosen Christ as our career? That we deliberately will to walk with those who walk with God? That we have chosen eternity over time and heaven over earth? Must we apologize that we have chosen to seek good and not evil all the days of our lives? That we have chosen so to live that we dare to die? In so choosing whom have we injured? Whose son or daughter is the worse for knowing us? Whose house have we robbed or whose money have we stolen? Whom have we led into crime? Who is a worse husband or father or citizen for following our Savior? If we have wronged anyone it is in spite of our Christian faith, not because of it. No man, no home, no nation is the worse for the presence of a real Christian. Gerhard Tersteegen, the saintly silk weaver, said it for us in a delightful little bit of verse: Child of the Eternal Father, Bride of the Eternal Son, Dwelling place of God the Spirit, Thus with Christ made ever one; Dowered with joy beyond the angels, Nearest to His throne, They the ministers attending His beloved one: Granted all my hearts desire, All things made my own; Feared by all the powers of evil, Fearing God alone; Walking with the Lord in glory Through the courts divine, Queen within the royal palace, Christ forever mine: Say, poor worldling, can it be That my heart should envy thee?

Prayer
Lord, may I be salt and light in this world. Shine through me though I be only a flickering candle.

Scripture
You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.— Matthew 5:13

Thought
We are to be salt and salt is not always appreciated. We are to be light and those around may resent the light because they love darkness.

(Source:http://www.cmalliance.org/devotions/tozer/tozer.jsp?id=695)

Faith!

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does." James 1:2-8 NIV

I know that my life is in Your hands, Lord... yet I am often so easily beaten by self-doubt and disbelief. I know I can finish this race that was begun by Your grace and sustained daily by Your strength, yet so often I can start questioning where am I truly heading, when would You next meet me, how long would this wait last, would my weak little seed of faith outlast the wait?

O Lord, it really blows my mind to think that You can love and care for such a pathetic sinner as me! You will never leave me alone, even when You choose to withdraw Your presence from my "feeling range", You will never forsake me nor forget me. You see the first and the last and You hold the world in the palm of Your hand; there is no trouble that You cannot deliver or spare me from, if You would like to. You are Love, Perfect Love, even when I cannot understand Your plan, even when I cannot trace Your hand, I can trust Your heart, that You meant everything for the best of Your child, no matter how unworthy she is.

You have given me everything, when You gave me Your Son, Jesus Christ, yet so often I have acted like I have nothing. How can I ever question Your Love and desire the approval from the world above Yours? O Lord, I am humbled by Your daily mercy and gracious gifts. Thank You, my Father, I love You!

Help me to calm my heart and be patient. Help me to fix my eyes on Jesus and learn from His gentle and humble Spirit. Let perseverance finish its work in me... help me to walk in step with You. I know You will never bring me to where Your grace can't keep me. Your grace is sufficient, let me desire nothing else.

O Spirit, mould me into the "exegete" of Christ!

Tozer Devotional
Collective Writings from the Books of A.W. Tozer

The Set of the Sail
Chapter #13
The Lord Giveth Knowledge

The "Exegete" of the Father

Elsewhere I have said that we cannot know God by thinking, but that we must do a lot of thinking if we would know Him well. This sounds self-contradictory, but I am sure that the two statements are in full accord with each other. The inability of the human mind to know God in a true and final sense is taken for granted throughout the Bible and even taught in plain words in such passages as these: No man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him. The world by wisdom knew not God. The things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. God's nature is of another kind from anything with which the mind is acquainted; hence when the mind attempts to find out God it is confronted by obscurity. It is surrounded with mystery and blinded by the light no man can approach unto. A consideration of this truth led some thinkers of the past to conclude that since it is impossible for man to discover God by means of any faculties he possesses, God must therefore remain not only unknown but unknowable. What these men overlooked was that when God desires He can and does reveal Himself to men. The Spirit of God is able to make the spirit of man know and experience the awful mystery of God's essential being. It should be noted that the Spirit reveals God to the spirit of man, not to his intellect merely. The intellect can know God's attributes because these constitute that body of truth that can be known about God. The knowledge of God is for the spirit alone. Such knowledge comes not by intellection but by intuition .

Prayer
The more I gaze upon You, Lord, the more I know the Father. You are the Revealer of the Father.
Scripture
No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father's side, has made him known.— John 1:18
Thought
The Greek term translated "made him known" is related to the word from which we get "exegesis." Christ has "exegeted," clearly made known to us the Father. Christ reflects the Father.

(Source: http://www.cmalliance.org/devotions/tozer/tozer.jsp?id=670)

Just run Home!

How oft in the conflict, when pressed by the foe,
I have fled to my Refuge and breathed out my woe;
How often, when trials like sea-billows roll,
Have I hidden in Thee, O Thou Rock of my soul.
—Cushing

Have you ever played "Catching" as a child? It's one of my favourite games, as it is such a simple game, yet so fun and exciting, and it engages everyone! Once the "Catcher" is appointed, his/her aim is to try to catch as many of the rest of the players as possible, by running up to them and tapping them on the back. It can be pretty challenging, as boundaries are often set to limit the area within which you can run to get away from the Catcher, so you got to make sure you don't get cornered easily! Sometimes, to make the game more interesting and easier for the younger ones, we have further set a corner as "Home"--a neutral ground where you can rest for a while, out of reach of the Catcher. So, many of the less confident players will linger in the vicinity of the Home and race to its safety upon the Catcher's approach.

Many times in life, troubles and fears will assail and threaten to destroy what that matters most to us. Sometimes, they can strip us of our dignity and crush our hopes and dreams. In these seasons of darkness, many of us will fumble around, frantically turning to all kinds of solutions to look for a way out; some will try to run away and avoid confronting the problem at all cost; while others fall into a state of despair and depression; and still others will turn angry and bitter and start questioning about life and God. In the midst of these painful struggles, a terrible sense of helplessness will often overwhelm us, because we know something dreadful is unfolding, but we have no way to stop it from over-taking us and taking away what we hold dearly in life.

Yet God did not leave us "Homeless" as defenceless orphans in this world with its troubles and uncertainties. He has given us a Home that we can run to whenever we are intimidated or attacked by the conflicts and trials of living. And the Home is His name, "The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe” (Prov. 18:10). In the face of impending ruin and doom, God has given us the name of His Son, Jesus Christ, to be our Rest and Confidence. When we call to Him and pray in His name, He stoops to listen and gives us His peace and joy to guard our hearts and minds. In His power and grace, He answers our prayers, strengthens our faith and satisfies our souls, so that we can shout for joy and give Him our thanks and praises.

Indeed, the Lord is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in Him. (Nahum 1:7) And, yes, we can always cry out to Him and run to His embrace when life seems overwhelmingly nightmarish and desolate. We will find that He is just right there, waiting. And He will never let us go.

Come and See

Come and See
Come and see, come and see

Come and see the King of love

See the purple robe and crown of thorns he wears

Soldiers mock, rulers sneer

As he lifts the cruel cross

Lone and friendless now he climbs towards the hill

We worship at your feet

Where wrath and mercy meet

And a guilty world is washed

By love's pure stream

For us he was made sin

Oh, help me take it in

Deep wounds of love cry out 'Father, forgive

'I worship, I worship

The Lamb who was slain.

Come and weep, come and mourn

For your sin that pierced him there

So much deeper than the wounds of thorn and nail

All our pride, all our greed

All our fallenness and shame

And the Lord has laid the punishment on him

We worship at your feet
Where wrath and mercy meet
And a guilty world is washed
By love's pure stream
For us he was made sin
Oh, help me take it in
Deep wounds of love cry out 'Father, forgive
'I worship, I worship
The Lamb who was slain.

Man of heaven, born to earth

To restore us to your heaven

Here we bow in awe beneath

Your searching eyes

From your tears comes our joy

From your death our life shall spring

By your resurrection power we shall rise

We worship at your feet
Where wrath and mercy meet
And a guilty world is washed
By love's pure stream
For us he was made sin
Oh, help me take it in
Deep wounds of love cry out 'Father, forgive
'I worship, I worship
The Lamb who was slain.

Just For Today

Just for today, I will let go of my worry and breathe in the beauty around me,
Just for today, I will promise to smile more than I frown,
Just for today, I will forget about the past and move forward in faith,
Just for today, I will slow down and listen in silence to He who is in me,
Just for today, I will be faster in giving love, than in giving comments,
Just for today, I will laugh and thank, without a shadow of doubt,
Just for today, I will trust God completely, and know He loves me completely,
Just for today, I will hold on to the promise that He holds me,
And He holds all my tomorrows.