by Pastor Cecil | Aug 22, 2014 | Luke
Luke 24:29
But they constrained Him, saying, ‘Abide with us: for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent.’ And He went in to tarry with them.
I wonder how eager we are for the presence of the Lord to abide with us. Do we yearn for His presence in our life to the extent that we grieve when we cannot feel Him near us?
Henry F. Lyte was a man who greatly loved the Lord with his whole being. He coined the saying, “It is better to wear out than to rust out.” That phrase perfectly described his life. During the last 23 years of his life he was the pastor of a poor church in England. He always suffered from poor health but during this time his health started to decline even more. When he finally preached his last sermon on September 4, 1847, it is reported that he practically had to crawl to the pulpit.
Shortly before preaching his last sermon he wrote the words and tune to the hymn, Abide With Me. He based his hymn on today’s Scripture that tells the story of Jesus walking with two disciples on the way to Emmaus and their statement, “Abide with us: for it is toward evening and the day is far spent.” He went to be with the Lord shortly after writing the hymn. Later William Monk wrote a new tune for the hymn. During a time of personal sorrow, he was inspired by the beauty of a magnificent sunset.
Abide With Me
Abide with me—fast falls the eventide;
The darkness deepens—Lord, with me abide;
When other helpers fail and comforts flee,
Help of the helpless, O abide with me!
Swift to its close ebbs out life’s little day;
Earth’s joys grow dim, its glories pass away;
Change and decay in all around I see;
O Thou who changest not, abide with me!
I need Thy presence every passing hour;
What but Thy grace can foil the tempter’s power?
Who like Thyself my guide and stay can be?
Through cloud and sunshine, O abide with me.
Hold Thou Thy word before my closing eyes,
Shine thru the gloom and point me to the skies;
Heaven’s morning breaks and earth’s vain shadows flee
In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me!
Enjoy this week’s free inspirational video from Gloryscapes.com. To access Abide With Me, this free inspirational video from GloryScapes™, please go to: http://www.gloryscapes.com/abidewithme/
May God richly bless you as you bless others by your words and actions!
—Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Aug 21, 2014 | Isaiah
Isaiah 26:3-4
You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in You. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord, the Lord Himself, is the Rock eternal.
Look at the weather reports virtually anywhere in the world and you will find storms of every description. A hurricane in the eastern Pacific Ocean crosses the International Date Line and is now designated a typhoon, but it’s the same storm. Tornados unleash deadly violence in normally peaceful areas. Warm months are not the only seasons of violent storms. In the winter months there are bitter cold spells, frequently with blizzard conditions.
Those who find themselves trapped in any of these storms know the full fury that surrounds them and immediately begin to pray for God’s protective shield against the raging storm. The disciples found themselves in a violent storm on the Sea of Galilee, and even though some of them were seasoned fishermen, they feared for their lives.
Weather-related storms are not the only storms we encounter. There are also financial storms, physical storms, marital storms, employment storms, as well as religious storms. Let’s face it—we live in a storm-ravaged world!
So how are we supposed to deal with the storms of life? Isaiah gives us the answer loud and clear: We need to have a steadfast mind. How are we going to have a steadfast mind? By placing our trust in the Lord forever, which means we trust Him not only in the storm, but beyond the storm. Trust in the Lord and find His perfect peace!
May God richly bless you as you bless others by your words and actions!
– – – Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Aug 20, 2014 | Philippians
Philippians 1:20-21
I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.
We never know how close we are to eternity! In 1953 I had completed basic training in California and was being transported to Texas. Approximately fifty of us were flying on an older model military transport plane—an old one! It was left over from World War II.
We made an interim stop in New Mexico, and just as we landed, one of the two propellers stopped. As we waited for the repairs to be made, a mechanic mentioned that we were just fortunate—if we had been in the air when the propeller stopped, we might not be there. Yikes!
Thinking about it now I realize that we could very easily have crashed, and I could have been ushered into eternity! I have had other close calls that reveal to me that we are just a heartbeat from eternity!
All of us walk through life on borrowed time. Unfortunately, many of us are prone to behave as if we would go on living for many more years. We cling onto life with our every breath and scream bloody murder at the thought of our death—for what? Not for what we can do for the Lord or to serve Him, but just to live a little longer.
I want to live in such a way that others will see Christ in me. Not only did Paul express his commitment to live only for Christ, he demonstrated it by the way he lived. If ever there was an example of a sold-out Christian life, it was the apostle Paul. Let me close for today with Paul’s statement in Philippians 1:20: “For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”
May God richly bless you as you bless others by your words and actions!
– – – Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Aug 19, 2014 | 2 Timothy, Daily-E-Votionals
2 Timothy 2:1-2
You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others.
When I first started using the computer, I did not discipline myself to consistently save the material I was working on — one of the most distressing things to encounter is to lose material you have worked on for days, weeks, months, or even years. I want to tell you from personal experience, it wrenches your insides. All that work and suddenly it was gone!
People with much more computer experience had cautioned me about the importance of using the save feature. Losing valuable work was the best teacher, but by then I had suffered loss. I have since taken steps to insure that my material is backed up off site so that I can rest assured of recovery.
Spiritually we face a much greater threat. Believers try to teach the necessity of being saved, but all too often our pleas go unheeded. In many cases I fear it is too late to be saved. Death is certain, but it is often sudden and without warning.
In order to spend eternity in heaven with God, we must be saved. It is more than knowing the Bible — it is surrendering our self-centered will to allow Jesus Christ to come into our heart and save us. If you have never personally applied the save feature that the blood of Jesus provides, I urge you to be saved today while there is still time.
May God richly bless you as you bless others by your words and actions!
– – – Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Aug 18, 2014 | 1 Peter
1 Peter 3:8-9
Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble. Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.
The Lord never calls us to be like the world. In fact we are repeatedly urged to live differently than those who are not believers. It may even be said that we are to be so different from those in the world that we will appear to be odd balls. (I mean that in the most positive way).
As I read the list of attributes that Peter lists as descriptive of a real Christian, I am staggered. LIKE-MINED, SYMPATHETIC, HAVING LOVE FOR ONE ANOTHER, COMPASSIONATE, and HUMBLE. As we read over that list it is not a matter of choosing one or more, but we are to demonstrate all of them.
We are further instructed to behave in a manner that is far removed from normal reactions to situations. We are to refrain from getting even with others who wrong us. Instead we are to repay evil with blessing. Wow!
Slowly and deliberately read 1 Peter 3:8-9 again. Can you honestly say that you are acting this way? If and when we do, we will no doubt be considered out of our mind and weird. At best we will be considered DIFFERENT. Are you willing to be DIFFERENT for God rather than follow your own emotions?
May God richly bless you as you bless others by your words and actions!
– – – Pastor Cecil
