by Pastor Cecil | Jul 17, 2009 | Matthew
Matthew 11:28-30
“Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
Back in 1880, Will L. Thompson (no family relation, but a brother in Christ) wrote this wonderful hymn “Softly and Tenderly.” Over the years it has brought peace and comfort to countless seeking hearts.
When the world-renowned lay preacher, Dwight Lyman Moody, lay on his death bed in his Northfield, Massachusetts, home, Will Thompson made a special visit to inquire as to his condition. The attending physician refused to admit him to the sickroom, and Moody heard them talking just outside the bedroom door. Recognizing Thompson’s voice, he called for him to come to his bedside. Taking the Ohio poet-composer by the hand, the dying evangelist said, “Will, I would rather have written ‘Softly and Tenderly Jesus is Calling’ than anything I have been able to do in my whole life.” What a resounding tribute to a song that many have chosen to neglect.
“Softly and Tenderly“
Softly and tenderly Jesus is calling,
Calling for you and for me;
See, on the portals He’s waiting and watching,
Watching for you and for me.
Refrain: Come home, come home,
You who are weary, come home;
Earnestly, tenderly, Jesus is calling,
Calling, O sinner, come home!
Why should we tarry when Jesus is pleading,
Pleading for you and for me?
Why should we linger and heed not His mercies,
Mercies for you and for me?
Refrain:
Time is now fleeting, the moments are passing,
Passing from you and from me;
Shadows are gathering, deathbeds are coming,
Coming for you and for me.
Refrain:
O for the wonderful love He has promised,
Promised for you and for me!
Though we have sinned, He has mercy and pardon,
Pardon for you and for me.
Refrain:
To access Softly and Tenderly, this week’s inspirational video from GloryScapes.com, please go to: http://www.gloryscapes.com/softlyandtenderly in your browser or click on the image below.
Blessings dear hearts. Draw near to God today, trust Him completely and be a blessing!
– – – Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Jul 16, 2009 | Revelation
Revelation 21:4
“He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
Back in the early sixties I was attending the United States Air Force Officer’s Training School in San Antonio, Texas. Many of those of us who were married had our families staying near us in a facility called Billy Mitchell Village.
Late one evening I had an emergency call that our oldest daughter, Brenda, who was eight at the time, had an extremely high temperature of 104-105. I rushed to the hospital to be with her. After trying other methods to lower her temperature, they took her into the emergency room where there was a large stainless steel tub filled with water and buckets of ice.
It broke my heart to stand beside her shivering little body as she cried and pleaded with me to make the pain go away. Oh, how I wished I could trade places with her and free her of the agony she was enduring. I couldn’t! She had to endure the agony in order to get well!
Everyday my inbox is filled with people who are hurting and feel stuck in intolerable situations. As I pray and respond as best I know how, I am struck with how many times across the years I have had people pour out their hearts to me and beg for relief from their pain.
I am not sure when it started, but the Lord gave me a ministry of Christian counseling. I have served both professionally, but most often voluntarily, as a counselor. Either way I have found that most of the time (actually, all of the time) I do not have the answers.
So what can I do? How can I give hope to those of you who are passing through the valley of the shadow of death? There are those who glibly dispense spiritual candy, but it eventually turns bitter when results are not seen.
Over the years and after much prayer, I offer the following verses to any who are in that blind alley of life that seems to have no exit. Psalm 139:1-4: “O LORD, You have searched me and You know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; You perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; You are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue You know it completely, O LORD.” I don’t know what it says to you, but it tells me that God knows what I am going through so it is not necessary to give Him a status report on my condition. I just need to ask that He will show me how I can live a victorious life in the midst of the storm.
The second passage is in James 1:2-8: “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.”
There you are! I challenge you to apply these two passages to the impossible situations you are experiencing now or will experience in the future. Not only is God able to meet your need, He wants to supply all of your needs
Blessings dear hearts. Draw near to God today, trust Him completely and be a blessing!
– – – Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Jul 15, 2009 | Isaiah
Isaiah 65:24
“Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear.”
One of my favorite comic strips is “Baby Blues.” Recently the creators, Rick Kirkman and Jerry Scott, had a strip where the first frame showed only the head of a dad lamenting that after feeding, educating, sacrificing, defending, encouraging and loving his children, the last frame revealed him on the ground with his foot tangled in a hammock and saying: “. . .the only thing they will remember about me is the time he fell out of the hammock!”
As I thought about that humorous comic strip, I realized that none of us have the ability to know what people will remember about us. As a matter of fact, we do not know what (if anything) is going into their brain as we speak. It reminds me of the expression: “The lights are on, but nobody is home.”
While this reality may be depressing to some, it is encouraging to me. It allows me to just write or speak as the Lord leads knowing that it His responsibility to take my words to the heart of some soul who needs to hear.
A certain story has circulated for several years that I want to share with you. It seems that late one evening the pastor of the “Almighty God Tabernacle” placed a call to his wife from his office at the church. Even though he let it ring several times, there was no answer and the answering machine did not pick up the call.
He rushed home to insure that his wife was safe, which she was. When he asked her why she had not answered his call, she said that the phone never rang.
A few days later the pastor received a call at his office from a man who wanted to know who had called him. It suddenly dawned on the pastor that when he had tried to call his wife, he had mistakenly dialed this man’s number.
The pastor began to apologize for his mistake, but the man interrupted him. He wanted to tell the pastor a remarkable story: On the night of the call he was contemplating suicide. He asked God to show him some sign if He really existed. It was then that his phone rang and when he looked at his caller ID, he was stunned to see the words “ALMIGHTY GOD,” — the first two words in the church’s name. God had answered the prayer of a disturbed soul by a misdial!
Whether the story is true or merely a legend, it points out to me that God is able to take my most feeble efforts and use them for His purposes. It is none of my business how many people read these daily messages. From the very first day back in September 2000, until today, my prayer is that some person will feel that God had meant it for them.
Blessings dear hearts. Draw near to God today, trust Him completely and be a blessing!
– – – Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Jul 14, 2009 | Matthew
Matthew 6:33-34
“But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
It was a clear day with beautiful blue skies. A retired pastor and his wife were traveling on a remote highway in Nevada. Without warning their car sputtered and they came to a stop on a gravel pullout. This in itself was amazing since such pullouts in this area were few and far between.
Immediately the pastor took his wife’s hand and prayed that they would be alert to how God might want to use this incident for His purposes. Just as he ended his prayer, there was the sound of crunching gravel. A car had stopped behind them. Here again, it could easily have been a prolonged wait for assistance.
The “good Samaritan” took them into the only town for many miles. He introduced them to the owner of the only garage/service station in town. The man said he would tow the car in and see if he could locate the problem.
There were many mini-miracles that took place during the day that I will not take the time to enumerate. Here is the major-miracle: The garage owner’s wife entertained the pastor’s wife while the repair work was being done and, in the process, gave her heart to the Lord.
The pastor led the owner to the Lord and learned that the couple was having such marital conflicts that they were ready to seek a divorce. They tearfully renewed their vows and promised to bring the Lord into their marriage.
One broken car! One fractured marriage! Two sinners who needed a Savior! In one day God used the broken car and a yielded couple to minister in a mighty way for God’s kingdom here on earth. Wow!
How can God use you? Are you making yourself available at all times?
Blessings dear hearts. Draw near to God today, trust Him completely and be a blessing!
– – – Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Jul 13, 2009 | Matthew
Matthew 6:33-34
“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
Some humorous stories have little intrinsic value, but there is one story that presents a stronger message than most sermons. It seems that a businessman from the city was traveling back home rather late at night after a meeting. He decided to take a short-cut that took him off the main thoughfare and into the country.
Far from the city he heard and felt the unmistakable signs of a flat tire. Eagerly he jumped out of his car and opened the trunk (boot to you Brits). He pulled out his spare tire. It was then he remembered that he had loaned his tire jack to his neighbor. (No tire jack—no way to install the spare).
He saw the lights of a farmhouse some distance away. As he started toward the lights he was happy that he was as close to help as he was. But then he started talking to himself: “You know I have heard that these farmers don’t like city slickers and will find every chance they get to make money off of us. I bet he charges me $10. To use his tire jack!”
As he came closer to the house he became more agitated about how much the farmer would possibly charge him for the use of a jack. “I bet that rascal will charge me $20.00 or even more! It just burns me up!!”
As he came closer he saw the lights go out as the family must have gone to bed for the night. “That does it!” He told himself. Now it will be at least $50.00. I am so mad I could spit!!”
He reached the door and he began to pound on it with his fists. The poor farmer came to the door without having any idea of the man’s predicament or what he had been conjuring in his mind. Before he had an opportunity to speak, the motorist screamed—“KEEP YOUR STUPID JACK!”
I no doubt botched the story somewhat, but I hope you were able to realize how foolish the stranded motorist was. He allowed presumption to cloud his reason so far that the farmer was guilty without him hearing the request.
I wonder how often we are guilty of much the same thing. We presume to know how things are going to turn out before they happen. I will be using the same Scripture tomorrow that I am using today, but with a different slant—a good one.
Read this passage again and again and let it fill your every being. In fact read verse 34 first. It says basically that each day will have its share of sorrows. As I write this, it is the eighteenth anniversary of our dear daughter leaving this earth and entering into her eternal rest. It was one day after our 39th wedding anniversary.
The sorrow of saying goodbye to her in this world is tempered by the expectation of the joyous reunion when we see her in heaven. What a wonderful day that will be. We may have flat tires, fender benders, stalled engines or you name it on this earth, but praise God, we have a home in heaven where nothing is broken and it never will be!
Blessings dear hearts. Draw near to God today, trust Him completely and be a blessing!
– – – Pastor Cecil
