There Is Certainly Enough in Him!

There is certainly enough in our Savior, if we only open our eyes that we may see it, to solve every doubt and satisfy every longing of the heart; and He is willing to give it in full measure. If a glimpse of our Savior here on earth can be so refreshing, so delightful, what will it be in Heaven?
~Elizabeth Prentiss

The LOVE of Jesus

"The love of Jesus is the love you have been looking for all of your life. This is the only love that can’t let you down. This is bombproof love. Not friend-love, not personal acclaim, not married love, and not even romantic love— it is this love that you are after, underneath all your pursuit of those others. And if this love of active obedience is an active reality in your life, you will be a person of integrity; you will be a person of prayer; you will be kind to people who mistreat you. If you have this love you will be a little more like him. Look at him dying in the dark for you. Let it melt you into his likeness."
-Tim Keller

Valley of Vision: The Great Discovery

Glorious God,

I  bless thee that I know thee.

      I once lived in the world, but was ignorant

   of its Creator,

   was partaker of thy providences, but knew not

     the Provider,

   was blind while enjoying the sunlight,

   was deaf to all things spiritual, with voices

     all around me,

   understood many things, but had no knowledge

     of thy ways,

   saw the world, but did not see Jesus only.

O happy day, when in thy love’s sovereignty

   thou didst look on me, and call me by grace.

Then did the dead heart begin to beat,

   the darkened eye glimmer with light,

   the dull ear catch thy echo,

   and I turned to thee and found thee,

   a God ready to hear, willing to save.

Then did I find my heart at enmity to thee,

   vexing thy Spirit;

Then did I fall at thy feet and hear thee thunder,

   ‘The soul that sinneth, it must die’,

But when grace made me to know thee,

   and admire a God who hated sin,

   thy terrible justice held my will submissive.

My thoughts were then as knives cutting my head.

Then didst thou come to me in silken robes of love,

   and I saw thy Son dying that I might live,

   and in that death I found my all.

My soul doth sing at the remembrance of

     that peace;

The gospel cornet brought a sound unknown

   to me before that reached my heart – and I lived –

   never to lose my hold on Christ or his hold on me.

Grant that I may always weep to the praise of

     mercy found,

   and tell to others as long as I live,

   that thou art a sin-pardoning God,

   taking up the blasphemer and the ungodly,

   and washing them from their deepest stain.

Come to Jesus in Faith!

THE HOT WATER BOTTLE - A True Story By Helen Roseveare, Missionary to Africa 

One night, in Central Africa, I had worked hard to help a mother in the labor ward; but in spite of all that we could do, she died leaving us with a tiny, premature baby and a crying, two-year-old daughter. 

We would have difficulty keeping the baby alive. We had no incubator. We had no electricity to run an incubator, and no special feeding facilities. Although we lived on the equator, nights were often chilly with treacherous drafts. 

A student-midwife went for the box we had for such babies and for the cotton wool that the baby would be wrapped in. Another went to stoke up the fire and fill a hot water bottle. She came back shortly, in distress, to tell me that in filling the bottle, it had burst. Rubber perishes easily in tropical climates. "...and it is our last hot water bottle!" she exclaimed. As in the West, it is no good crying over spilled milk; so, in Central Africa it might be considered no good crying over a burst water bottle. They do not grow on trees, and there are no drugstores down forest pathways. All right," I said, "Put the baby as near the fire as you safely can; sleep between the baby and the door to keep it free from drafts. Your job is to keep the baby warm." 

The following noon, as I did most days, I went to have prayers with many of the orphanage children who chose to gather with me. I gave the youngsters various suggestions of things to pray about and told them about the tiny baby. I explained our problem about keeping the baby warm enough, mentioning the hot water bottle. The baby could so easily die if it got chilled. I also told them about the two-year-old sister, crying because her mother had died. During the prayer time, one ten-year-old girl, Ruth, prayed with the usual blunt consciousness of our African children. "Please, God," she prayed, "send us a water bottle. It'll be no good tomorrow, God, the baby'll be dead; so, please send it this afternoon." While I gasped inwardly at the audacity of the prayer, she added by way of corollary, " ...And while You are about it, would You please send a dolly for the little girl so she'll know You really love her?" As often with children's prayers, I was put on the spot. Could I honestly say, "Amen?" I just did not believe that God could do this. Oh, yes, I know that He can do everything: The Bible says so, but there are limits, aren't there? The only way God could answer this particular prayer would be by sending a parcel from the homeland. I had been in Africa for almost four years at that time, and I had never, ever received a parcel from home. Anyway, if anyone did send a parcel, who would put in a hot water bottle? I lived on the equator! 

Halfway through the afternoon, while I was teaching in the nurses' training school, a message was sent that there was a car at my front door. By the time that I reached home, the car had gone, but there, on the veranda, was a large twenty-two pound parcel! I felt tears pricking my eyes. I could not open the parcel alone; so, I sent for the orphanage children. Together we pulled off the string, carefully undoing each knot. We folded the paper, taking care not to tear it unduly. Excitement was mounting. Some thirty or forty pairs of eyes were focused on the large cardboard box. From the top, I lifted out brightly colored, knitted jerseys. Eyes sparkled as I gave them out. Then, there were the knitted bandages for the leprosy patients, and the children began to look a little bored. Next, came a box of mixed raisins and sultanas - - that would make a nice batch of buns for the weekend. As I put my hand in again, I felt the...could it really be? I grasped it, and pulled it out. Yes, "A brand-new rubber, hot water bottle!" I cried. I had not asked God to send it; I had not truly believed that He could. Ruth was in the front row of the children. She rushed forward, crying out, "If God has sent the bottle, He must have sent the dolly, too!" Rummaging down to the bottom of the box, she pulled out the small, beautifully dressed dolly. Her eyes shone: She had never doubted! Looking up at me, she asked, "Can I go over with you, Mummy, and give this dolly to that little girl, so she'll know that Jesus really loves her?" 

That parcel had been on the way for five whole months, packed up by my former Sunday School class, whose leader had heard and obeyed God's prompting to send a hot water bottle, even to the equator. One of the girls had put in a dolly for an African child -- five months earlier in answer to the believing prayer of a ten-year-old to bring it "That afternoon!" "And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear." Isaiah 65:24 

Finding True Happiness Is Finding Christ

A good reminder from Thomas Reade :

Earthly vanities can never satisfy the enlarged
desires of an immortal soul. This is the reason
why worldly people are so restless and changeable.
Temporal objects soon cloy and satiate, therefore
worldlings fly from flower to flower like vagrant
butterflies--until death closes their idle chase
after an unreal happiness!
Did they possess true wisdom, they would
discover the source of true felicity.
Christ and happiness are inseparable. If we
find true happiness, it is because we have
found Christ; for . . .
  the pardon of sin,
  peace with God,
  purity of heart, and
  the hope of glory,
cannot fail to render the believer blessed.

Show Us Christ!

Show us Christ, O God! 

Verse 1 

Prepare our hearts, O God 

Help us to receive 

Break the hard and stony ground 

Help our unbelief 

Plant Your Word down deep in us 

Cause it to bear fruit 

Open up our ears to hear 

Lead us in Your truth 

Chorus 

Show us Christ, show us Christ 

O God, reveal Your glory 

Through the preaching of Your Word 

Until every heart confesses Christ is Lord 

Verse 2 

Your Word is living light 

Upon our darkened eyes 

Guards us through temptations 

Makes the simple wise 

Your Word is food for famished ones 

Freedom for the slave 

Riches for the needy soul 

Come speak to us today 

Bridge 

Where else can we go, Lord 

Where else can we go 

You have the words of eternal life 

I must confess that God generally deals very contrary to my expectations. Yet "He does all things well." It is "Sweet to lie passive in His hands, and know no will but His."

 

I have proved my own strength to be complete weakness, my own wisdom consummate folly, and my own righteousness filthy rags. What a mercy, then, to be stripped of all, and have Christ for wisdom, Christ for righteousness, Christ for strength, Christ for purity, Christ for power, Christ for beauty, Christ for holiness, Christ for acceptance above, Christ for our daily walk, Christ for our daily work, Christ for rest, Christ for food, Christ for medicine; yes, to know nothing among men or before God--but Jesus crucified and glorified! 

~Ruth Bryan ("The Marvelous Riches of Savoring Christ, The Letters of Ruth Bryan")