by Pastor Cecil | Feb 5, 2016 | Ruth
Ruth 2:8
“Then Boaz said to Ruth, ‘You will listen, my daughter, will you not? Do not go to glean in another field, nor go from here, but stay close by my young women.'”
It is hard to make a list of beloved hymns without encountering Fanny J. Crosby. This blind little lady composed well over 8,000 hymns and poems in her life. It is sad that many churches never sing these songs anymore. They are the losers!
As I think about the life of Fanny J. Crosby I am humbled. With her physical limitations she expressed her longing to be more and more like the Master she served. This hymn seems to highlight her aim to draw closer to Him.
In today’s Scripture, Boaz instructed Ruth to stay near the women who worked for him. He was her kinsman redeemer even though she did not know it. Christ is our Kinsman Redeemer and we know it because the Bible tells us so. Are we like Fanny J. Crosby having a desire to be closer to Him?
Close to Thee
Thou my everlasting portion,
More than friend or life to me,
All along my pilgrim journey,
Savior, let me walk with Thee.
Refrain:
Close to Thee, close to Thee,
Close to Thee, close to Thee;
All along my pilgrim journey,
Savior, let me walk with Thee.
Not for ease or worldly pleasure,
Nor for fame my prayer shall be;
Gladly will I toil and suffer,
Only let me walk with Thee.
Refrain:
Close to Thee, close to Thee,
Close to Thee, close to Thee,
Gladly will I toil and suffer,
Only let me walk with Thee.
Lead me through the vale of shadows,
Bear me o’er life’s fitful sea;
Then the gate of life eternal
May I enter, Lord, with Thee.
Refrain:
Close to Thee, close to Thee,
Close to Thee, close to Thee,
Then the gate of life eternal
May I enter, Lord, with Thee.
Enjoy this free inspirational video of, “Close to Thee” by going to:http://www.gloryscapes.com/closetothee/
May God richly bless you as you bless others by your words and actions!
—Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Feb 4, 2016 | Matthew
Matthew 11:28-30
“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
Do you ever get weary? If you are honest, I am sure that you would respond in the affirmative to that question. These bodies of ours are amazing, but at some point we feel fatigue set in and we need rest.
There have been times in my life when I was so tired that I felt as if I could not move one more step. I recall a time many years ago when I felt that way. It was at that moment that the Lord seemed to draw me near to Him in a new way.
Physically, I certainly did not feel inclined to respond in a positive way. But I am so glad I did. It was a new step to discover a deeper walk with the Lord. He taught me a lesson I have carried with me all these years. When we come to Him and take up His yoke, we feel strength we never felt before.
If you are at that point in your life right now, I want to encourage you to take the step of faith in forgetting all of your aches, pains, and weariness. Say “yes” to the Lord in any and everything He is telling you to do. THAT IS BEING YOKED WITH HIM!
May God richly bless you as you bless others by your words and actions!
– – – Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Feb 3, 2016 | Isaiah
Isaiah 28:10
“For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little.”
I once heard the story of a young pastor who came to his first assignment. Shortly after his arrival he moved the piano from one side of the church to the other. His action caused such an uproar he was forced to resign.
Some years later he returned to visit that same church and, much to his surprise, he saw the piano located where he had wanted to move it. He asked the new pastor how he had managed to have it relocated. The answer shocked him: “An inch a week!”
Many of us have heard the expression, “It’s a cinch by the inch, but it’s hard by the yard.” I am not sure how those of you using the metric system may be able to have a similar rhyme, but the idea is there regardless.
A gradual approach can be used in a positive context as well as a negative one. We can gradually make compromises that will lead us farther away from God’s pattern of righteousness, or we can gradually grow in grace and in the knowledge of God’s plan and purpose for our life. The answer is being disciplined to study God’s word and keep our prayer life active.
May God richly bless you as you bless others by your words and actions!
– – – Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Feb 2, 2016 | John
John 17:6-7
“I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world. They were Yours, You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. Now they have known that all things which You have given Me are from You.”
I recently discovered my mom’s old photograph album. It must be almost 70 years old. As I thumbed through the pages of old black-and-white photos, there were precious few of the people that I could identify. Sadly, Mom had not recorded their names on the backs of the pictures … so they remain unidentified.
I sent several to my cousin, but he was able to identify only a couple people. We both are stymied and have no one that we can call upon to identify the people in those black-and-white photographs. He told me he found a similar album in his grandmother’s house after she died and had the same problem. He threw the photos away as there was no one alive to identify them.
This incident causes me to wonder if we could be identified as true believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. Would people be able to identify us as true believers based entirely on our actions? Without the name “Christian” on our back, would we be the same as those old black and white photos — UNIDENTIFIED? Think about it!
May God richly bless you as you bless others by your words and actions!
– – – Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Feb 1, 2016 | Psalm
Psalm 1:1-2
“Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night.”
“Delight” is a delightful word. (I can’t believe I wrote that!) The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines it as: a strong feeling of happiness; great pleasure or satisfaction. That is the same definition David intended when he penned the words of this Psalm.
What brings delight into your life? What are the things that bring you pleasure? If we are honest with ourselves, I think most of us would have to confess that it’s the earthly things that bring us pleasure — things we can touch, taste, or feel.
If you will read today’s Scripture once again, you’ll see that David emphasizes that our delight is in the law (instruction) of the Lord. By that, he implies the Word of God; taking delight in it, a person meditates on it day and night.
I’ve mentioned earlier that “meditate” comes from the root word that implies a cow chewing its cud, swallowing, and then bringing it up to chew over again. Meditating on God’s Word follows the same process, bringing it into our mind again and again until it becomes a part of us. Where do you find your delight?!
May God richly bless you as you bless others by your words and actions!
– – – Pastor Cecil
