"Wondrous, Overwhelming"

"Wondrous, Overwhelming"

     

   

    The following thoughts refer to a sublime Biblical truth.  I find the consideration overwhelming, and hope I can express it in words that approach the wonder.

    "For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding" (Colossians 1:9).

    Did God answer this prayer of the Apostle Paul for the Colossian believers?  He did.  The epistle of Colossians itself became the answer.  The glorious light of the Lord Jesus Christ illuminates any Christian who reads the epistle to the Colossians.  Thus, Paul prayed for his brothers and sisters in Christ.  God answered his prayer.  The Colossians (and millions of other believers) were blessed by the Lord because a Christian prayed.

    This truth, considered carefully, will fill and overwhelm our hearts with wonder.   How many blessings come our way because a fellow believer prays for us?  How many rays of light shine upon our hearts because one of God's trusting children in Christ asked Him to illuminate us?  How many provisions grace us with supply for the same reason?  How many protections?  How many comforts?  How many enablings?  How many moments of glory, when the invisible God so graces us with His goodness that it almost seems we look into His face?  Again, how many things happen in our lives because a fellow believer mentions our name before the Throne of grace?  

   We live our lives as not only the beneficiaries of our Heavenly Father, but also of believers who seek His grace for their brothers and sisters in Christ.  Moreover, when God answers a prayer prayed for one, many others inevitably benefit.  His supply for me in response to your prayers does not simply remain in my hands.  It also prepares and enables me to share that supply with others.  Take comfort, for example.  As the Lord encourages my heart through your intercession, the balm flows not only to me, but through me.  "Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God" (II Corinthians 1:3-4).  Thus, a prayer prayed for one leads to answers bestowed upon many.

   Again, I find few Biblical considerations more wondrous and overwhelming.  Innumerable moments of blessing come to us because somebody, somewhere loves us enough to seek God's involvement in our hearts and lives.  Some of those prayers may have been prayed before we were born.  The 17th chapter of John records the Lord Jesus Himself praying not only for the disciples with Him at the time, but "for them also who shall believe on Me through their word" (John 17:20).  In one sense, every blessing of life flows to us through that prayer offered two thousand years before our parents conceived us.   However, the prayers of fellow believers also grace us with glories we experience because they approach the Throne with our heart in their hands, as it were, seeking God's care of it.  Such truth elicits gratitude to God, and also to each other.  The Lord Jesus prayed for us before we were born, as doubtless did parents, grandparents, and who knows who else?  Others have interceded throughout our lifetime.  Some pray even now, again, presenting our hearts to the Lord as they seek His good grace for us.  Wondrous, overwhelming, and as I close, I know that many of you regularly bring my heart and the hearts of my family unto the Lord.  I cannot begin to thank you enough, and I am completely aware that countless moments of blessing come to us through your prayers.  The realization is sublime.  Again, how many moments of blessing come our way because somebody, somewhere seeks for us God's good grace?  We will never know in this lifetime, but we can be sure that the answer is wondrous, overwhelming.

"Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding, abundantly above all we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end, Amen."

(Ephesians 3:20)

Weekly Memory Verse

    The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made free from the law of sin and death.

(Romans 8:2)

Another Visit With Gerry and Elaine

"Another Visit With Gerry and Elaine"

     

   

    Those of you who have been with us awhile may remember our "chance" encounter with Gerry and Elaine Udstuen.  We met on a bench in Central Park, New York City in 2010.  Gerry struck up a conversation that ended in our rejoicing together as fellow believers in the Lord Jesus Christ.  Gerry also sang a beautiful version of a hymn to us during our encounter in the park.  This may sound a bit unusual, but if you knew Gerry, it would seem completely appropriate.  Some people sing in church, some on stages, some in the shower, and a few, well, a few sing everywhere!  Gerry occupied a special place among that rare company, and we felt blessed to be his audience.   We shared phone numbers and email addresses as we parted, which led to many contacts over the last six years, mainly by phone.  Last year, however, Frances and I enjoyed a happy visit to Elaine's home in Hendersonville, North Carolina after we finished a hike.  Sadly, but also joyfully, Gerry went to be with the Lord in 2014.  I miss him to this day.  I'll never forget his closing comment as we parted ways on that day in Central Park.  "We may not see each other again down here, but we will up there!"  He was right about that.  I also cherish something he said to Elaine before he went home to be with our Lord.  "Tell Glen I'll be waiting for him."  I'm even more sure he was right about that.

    During a return visit to New York and to Central Park last week, Frances and I returned to the spot where we met Gerry and Elaine.

    

   It was a blessed moment to snap this photo of Frances on the same bench where God so blessed us more than six years ago.  This time, we missed Gerry and Elaine being with us.  In truth, however, I think I can say they joined us.   The Apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians that he was "absent in body, but present in spirit" (I Corinthians 5:3).  I don't know what this means, or how it works, but we felt our dear brother and sister there in a way far more than mere physical presence could offer.  Perhaps we felt our Lord there.  He was and is the heart of the bond between Gerry, Elaine and ourselves.  We know each other through Him, by Him, and because of Him.  So, in that sense, I'd say that Frances and I experienced the blessing of our brother and sister yet again in that spiritual communion that far transcends physical proximity.

   I do not know how unbelievers live without the blessing of love as known in the body of Christ.  Indeed, "to live is Christ", which includes the fellowship we enjoy with brothers and sisters who bring the Lord to us in human expressions of Divine glory.  In each other, we know the Lord's life.  This was and is the case with Gerry and Elaine (as it is with all of you who receive these messages).  Revisiting the site where we met brought the blessed moment to our hearts yet again.  It also gave us great hope and anticipation for the blessed eternity wherein we all shall be together forever.  Memories of blessed, bygone times with each other direct our hearts to expectations of "the sweet by and by" in our Lord's presence and with each other.  So, we look forward to seeing Elaine again in this life, and Gerry in the next.  Because I am sure he is waiting for me there, and even more, I have no doubt that he already has a song to sing for me.  I cannot wait to hear it!

"Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!  It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard: that went down to the skirts of his garments; as the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion: for there the LORD commanded the blessing, even life for evermore."

(Psalm 133:1-3)

"This we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words."

(I Thessalonians 4:15-17)

Weekly Memory Verse

    The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made free from the law of sin and death.

(Romans 8:2)

"Grace and Truth"

"Grace and Truth"

   

     

    "Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ" (John 1:17).

    God's grace and truth in the Lord Jesus Christ offer the only hope whereby human hearts can relate to God.  He must do for us that which we cannot do for ourselves, and He must do it for the purpose of changing who and what we are.  This involves the grace of the freest gift ever given, namely, salvation in the Lord Jesus.  Such kindness also leads us into the truth of who our Heavenly Father made us to be, that is, those who bear spiritual and moral likeness to Christ.

   "We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them" (Ephesians 2:10).

   "Created in Christ Jesus" involves the new birth wherein God freely originates our relationship with Him as a gift of grace received by faith (Ephesians 2:8-9).  "Unto good works" refers to His promised working in us whereby we are "conformed to the image of His Son" (Romans 8:29).  As the saying goes, "God loves us as we are, and He also loves us enough to not leave us as we are".  The New Testament never suggests that we can earn salvation, whether by good works, religiosity, or our own sacrifice.  However, no salvation exists in New Testament terms that suggests our Lord redeems us to merely rescue us from eternal judgment.  Grace and truth always accompany each other in God's purposes, the grace of the freest gift, and the truth of God changing us into what He created human beings to be.  He freely gives righteousness to believers, and He also works in us to bear "the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ" (Philippians 3:9; 1:11).

   We might refer to grace and truth as provision and prospect.  God provides His supply in Christ freely.  He does so with the intention of making us like His Son in spiritual and moral terms.  This is grace, and this is truth.  All is of grace.  All is for truth.  We bring receptive hearts and willing hands to the table.  He graciously feeds us with the spiritual sustenance that strengthens us for walking in truth.  Yes, grace and truth came by the Lord Jesus.  It continues to come as we rejoice in the freest gift, and as we realize the holy purpose of Christlikeness for which God gave to us "so great salvation" by giving to us so gracious and true a Savior (Hebrews 2:3).

"They which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ."

(Romans 5:17)

Weekly Memory Verse

    The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made free from the law of sin and death.

(Romans 8:2)