Jump to content


Photo

Seeing the Light


  • Please log in to reply
10 replies to this topic

#1 Candice

Candice

    Advanced Member

  • Members
  • PipPipPip
  • 959 posts
  • Location:Big Horn, Wyoming
  • Interests:Bible study and deeper life in Christ, reading old and wise teachers of the bible.
  • Gender:Female
  • I am a Layperson

  • I attend a non-Alliance church

Posted 16 October 2013 - 03:07 PM

I see Jesus showing up in US history right now.  Today. Tomorrow too.  I see my own dependence upon "systems" that have held me captive for far too long.  When I was in my mid-twenties and working like the rat yuppie I was for Wall Street and legal firms in San Francisco, my father soberly warned me that all of the big packages these firms offered would be gone one day. I never forgot his words.  Now, I see our nation on the brink and only hope that that edge of the cliff is real spiritual revival - and persecution will be our hope for that.

 

I grabbed the mail today at the post office on my way home from town and saw the big "IBM Benefits" package arrive on its annual due date - mid-October.  My husband worked hard for 30 years for IBM, recruited right off campus at Cal Poly in sweet San Luis Obispo, CA - only 23 years old.  He went from robotics engineer to alliance sales executive traveling the globe.  All the perks, benefits and salary.  Then, just two months before leaving IBM, my husband is diagnosed with two types of cancers.  Treated with so many surgeries and chemo, I can't remember how many surgeries he had - we lost count.  I remember though that the LORD had urged me on to go to the doctors office that day with him.  I'd never done that before.  I urged the physician to perform a biopsy, which he was reluctant to do.  I insisted, when the negative result returned, it be sent to Mayo to a special pathologist.  He reluctantly did so.  It came back a high level cancer.  Praise God for His promptings!  Praise His Beautiful Name that my husband is cancer-free for four years now!  Praise Him.  How the LORD has changed our lives.

 

I look at this envelope, and doing so, I realize that the LORD is convicting me that we aren't to be dependent upon government or even any private "systems".  Not even medical insurance.  I've never received anything from the government.  But, the horn of plenty is plenty full with private benefits. 

 

I will be in prayer over this envelope, as I expect many of you will be.  Before I open it, I must know the LORD will take care of us - that we will be in His care - not the care of anyone else.  I don't want a return to the "old days", I want a new work from the LORD in my life -- His life in me -- totally dependent upon Him in sickness and in health.  I dread my husband coming home tonight.  Maybe I will squirrel this envelope away.  I'm sure it is full of bad news.  Good news?

 

How about you?

 

Love,

Candice

 

 


  • Lori Smith, Kevin Blankenship, elizabethcog and 4 others like this

#2 elizabethcog

elizabethcog

    Advanced Member

  • Members
  • PipPipPip
  • 303 posts
  • Gender:Female
  • I am a Layperson

  • I attend a non-Alliance church
  • The Bridge

Posted 16 October 2013 - 03:41 PM

I'm gonna trust in you Lord,I'm gonna trust in you...I am singing it as I read your post Candice 'cause I think heard youhumming the hymn as you shared,praying for you as always
  • Candice likes this
Jesus and Jesus alone saves=D

#3 Kenny

Kenny

    Advanced Member

  • Members
  • PipPipPip
  • 416 posts
  • Location:North Eastern U.S.
  • Interests:Bible Study, Bicycling, Christian Fellowship, I love reading A.W. Tozer and listening to Alistair Begg. Favorite book other than the Bible is Pilgrims Progress.
  • Gender:Male
  • I am a Layperson

  • I attend an Alliance church

Posted 16 October 2013 - 07:14 PM

Your spot on Candice.

 

I worked for a big company for 32 years of my life and was promised many benefits if I remained employed with them. Well here I am years later and most of what they promised has disappeared. They gradually took everything back which they promised would be mine for all the sweat, hard labor and the many years of my life which I gave to them.

 

 

Only God's promises can be trusted.


  • Kevin Blankenship, Candice and elizabethcog like this

#4 Candice

Candice

    Advanced Member

  • Members
  • PipPipPip
  • 959 posts
  • Location:Big Horn, Wyoming
  • Interests:Bible study and deeper life in Christ, reading old and wise teachers of the bible.
  • Gender:Female
  • I am a Layperson

  • I attend a non-Alliance church

Posted 16 October 2013 - 07:17 PM

They gradually took everything back which they promised would be mine for all the sweat, hard labor and the many years of my life which I gave to them.

 

 

Only God's promises can be trusted.

  Yes, God is the only One Who is Trustworthy!  I think many have experienced the same.  My husband complained about losing "the promises".  I just believe the LORD wants us to lose them! Really.    But, much of the US must experience this great loss to have a need for a Savior!


  • Kevin Blankenship and elizabethcog like this

#5 Ginger

Ginger

    Advanced Member

  • Members
  • PipPipPip
  • 303 posts
  • Gender:Female
  • I am a Layperson

  • I attend a non-Alliance church

Posted 16 October 2013 - 09:09 PM

.... we can sing in spite of all the stuff... Thank each of you for posting.... sometimes some of us may post in tears .... And we do need a song for any season.... Just had to go get this song.... Imagining us singing together..... Praise God!!!

 

STANDING ON THE PROMISES
Words & Music: R. Kel­so Car­ter, in Prom­is­es of Per­fect Love, by John Swe­ney and Kel­so Car­ter (Phil­a­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: John J. Hood, 1886)

 

Standing on the promises of Christ my King,
 Through eternal ages let His praises ring,
 Glory in the highest, I will shout and sing,
 Standing on the promises of God.

 

Refrain

 

Standing, standing,
 Standing on the promises of God my Savior;
 Standing, standing,
 I’m standing on the promises of God.

 

Standing on the promises that cannot fail,
 When the howling storms of doubt and fear assail,
 By the living Word of God I shall prevail,
 Standing on the promises of God.

 

Refrain

 

Standing on the promises I now can see
 Perfect, present cleansing in the blood for me;
 Standing in the liberty where Christ makes free,
 Standing on the promises of God.

 

Refrain

 

Standing on the promises of Christ the Lord,
 Bound to Him eternally by love’s strong cord,
 Overcoming daily with the Spirit’s sword,
 Standing on the promises of God.

 

Refrain

 

Standing on the promises I cannot fall,
 Listening every moment to the Spirit’s call
 Resting in my Savior as my all in all,
 Standing on the promises of God.

 

Refrain


  • Lori Smith, elizabethcog and Kenny like this

#6 Guest_Marvin Harrell_*

Guest_Marvin Harrell_*
  • Guests

Posted 17 October 2013 - 07:10 AM

Amen my friends! This is our true hope...God will provide everything we need to accomplish His will in this earth. Now to truly understand the idea of need...

 

Be blessed my friends!



#7 Kevin Blankenship

Kevin Blankenship

    Advanced Member

  • Members
  • PipPipPip
  • 528 posts
  • Location:Tennessee
  • Gender:Male
  • I am a Layperson

  • I attend a non-Alliance church

Posted 18 October 2013 - 04:37 AM

I went on a mission trip one time. I was invited to go as simply a tract passer-outer, and plus, I helped the Dentist in our ministry team pull teeth and hand him tools and such as that. It was just over the Rio Grande River , just south of Laredo Texas in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico.  The change was drastic!!!! On the American side of the river, Wal Marts, K-Marts,  All the usual Burger joints, etc etc.

......BUT.....on the mexican side of the river.....the change in standard of living was SO drastic as to cause my jaw to drop. We went into a huge neighborhood. The "well off" neighbors, in this neighbourhood  lived in simple two room (one room being the bathroom with no water).  It was built in a semi-desert. Chili bushes were in the totally grassless front yards. And various prickly plants.  The streets where sand/dirt/rock.  Hadn't been graded in who knows when.  The high dollar NICE cars there (here, it is Hummers, new Toyotas, GMC's, etc etc) ...there it was oil burning old worn out 70's Monte Carlo's and such. None of which had muffler;s it seems.

  Within the town proper, street vendors plyed their wares from rolling carts and such.  Sometimes, a townsperson would run up to us and say : Pharmecia? (something like that) meaning): Drugs?  Or they would say: Marijuana?......as we passed them a tract.

   I quickly assessed that our poorest in America would be considered "well off" in Nuevo Laredo Mexico.  Trust me, the change was SO drastic.  They thrived, it seemed, on Americans coming in and spending money with them.

   Jesus said: "How hard it is for the rich to enter the Kingdom".  But now I see that  "Being Rich" is strictly relative to where a person lives!!!!  I suppose the universal definition of "rich" as it applies to our faith is "anyone who trusts in money/mammon more than God" is considered rich.  

   Now, this post is absolutely NOT meant to be anything but what it is:  Candace's post, and the several after it, made me think of this memory.   But we may as well face it....we, as a Country, a  financially collective entity, are RICH...as a whole....compared to other Third World countries.  " I suppose that Jesus's Word's about being rich and "how hard it is for the rich to enter" would still apply.... in the collective sense. In yet other words.....How hard it is for Americans to enter the Kingdom of God. (or Heaven) as I forgot which term Jesus used as it is early and I am on the first cup of coffee. Just something to think about.



#8 Big John

Big John

    Advanced Member

  • Members
  • PipPipPip
  • 55 posts

Posted 21 October 2013 - 12:15 PM

Kevin,

 

This is exactly the thoughts I was having regarding this topic but I feared to be too harsh.  Thank you. 

 

I remembered the story of an old senior pastor friend of mine (now around 96 yrs old), who had established a church in Havana, Cuba in the 50's.  They had a large congregation and over the few years they were there, there had been unrest against the government.  The pastor had preached against the rebels, as they were communists and the congregation was mostly pro government.  The government and many of the people ultimately never believed there was a problem because they KNEW they could rely on the US for back-up and support.  One of the things that he prophesied over and over again was "get your eyes off of America and onto God".  Man will fail you but God will never fail you.  Well. here we are over a half century later and we see what happened in Cuba so many years ago.  And it continues on till this day. 

 

Government, corporations, friends, family, money, real estate and whatever will not always be there.  Only God can ultimately support us.  There is a level of wealth and infra-structure in this country that give us such a large sense of security that it is very hard for we rich people to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. 

 

Any man willing trade freedom for security deserves neither and will lose both.


  • Kevin Blankenship and Charles Miles like this

#9 Thinker

Thinker

    Advanced Member

  • Members
  • PipPipPip
  • 219 posts
  • Location:Maine
  • Interests:Humor, Writing, Counseling, Bible Study,Discipling and Revival
  • Gender:Male
  • I am a Pastor

  • I attend a non-Alliance church
  • Webbs Mills Free Baptist Church

Posted 01 December 2013 - 06:04 PM

Trusting in God includes trusting Him in relation to our country. Trusting the country can only lead to disappointment. I am more convinced than ever that we are under judgment. However, I see that as only the tip of the iceberg, a little preliminary wake up call. We can only expect increasing judgment unless we heed that warning. If the Rapture is near at hand, there may not be time for revival. If not, revival is our one and only hope to avert serious judgment. It may very well take persecution to bring us to crying out to God in repentance. We pray and shall continue to pray for revival. If it comes, a Spiritual awakening may very well follow. II Chronicles 7:14 is still a certain promise, if we meet the conditions. If we meet the conditions, we will experience personal revival and that may ignite the flame that would spread like wildfire throughout the church. Revelation 3:14-22 holds out the invitation to stir ourselves from our Laodicean slumber and enjoy a richly satisfying fellowship with our wonderful Lord. The ball is in our (the church's) court. Selah! Let's not drop the ball. Thinker  (Ron)


  • Kevin Blankenship, joseph and Charles Miles like this

#10 Charles Miles

Charles Miles

    Advanced Member

  • Members
  • PipPipPip
  • 536 posts
  • Location:West Point, MS
  • Interests:Medicine
    Fruits of the spirit
    Learning more about the Kingdom of God and how to live in it here on earth
  • Gender:Male
  • I am a Layperson

  • I attend a non-Alliance church
  • First Presbyterian Church EPC

Posted 02 December 2013 - 08:54 AM

Yesterday I was talking with a young lady who recently lost her husband suddenly.  She had many, if not all the same questions that cross all our minds after such a loss.  "Why me?  Why him? Why would God allow such things to happen?  Can God be in control and this stuff still happen?  I don`t understand!! " These questions, and more, probably fit in there with all the uncertainty discussed in the above posts.  What are the answers to those questions? I don`t know.....but I do know this...God is in control and He does know those answers.  He does love us and he does want the best for us.  Daniel was a man with a close relationship with the Father, yet he had to go into Babylon with all the others and that just didn`t seem fair at the time.  Daniel had a job to do and Babylon was the place the job needed doing, so God allowed him to be taken captive along with the others who didn`t have such a good relationship with the Father. I`m not saying that we are in these tough times because people don`t have a right relationship with God, but I am saying that it has happened before and God wanted his people to have some people there who knew him well.  Let me say again, I don`t know the answers to all the tough questions posed by the death of a loved one, or failing economic situations that were broken promises.  I do know one thing though.....I trust the Lord to keep his word about anything he has EVER said.  He says his grace is sufficient for anything we have or will face.  He says he will be my shield, he will keep me under his wing, and he will fight my battles. I may not see all of this right now, but I know he is faithful to keep his word.  Remember the prophet`s helper who walked out of the city and saw all the Syrian army in the hills?  He said it was all lost, no hope, kaput.  Elishia then asked God to open the servant`s eyes and he saw the army of God with flaming swords all around the enemy!  Listen, God knows what he is doing and I`m certain that I don`t, but I will trust him to do all that he said because he always has......always. "Fear not, for I am with you" Jesus said, and it is true......has to be.

 

May God bless all thoses here with concerns.  I know he will because he said he would,

 

Charlie


  • Kevin Blankenship and chipped china like this

#11 chipped china

chipped china

    Advanced Member

  • Members
  • PipPipPip
  • 574 posts
  • Location:Washington state
  • Interests:Knowing Jesus and our heritage. Showing Christ though me. Being a member of the Body. I enjoy nature and animals.
  • Gender:Female
  • I am a Layperson

  • I attend a non-Alliance church
  • Bible studies from New Life Assembly

Posted 03 December 2013 - 03:32 AM

Well said Charlie, and I too care about the people who are going through trials and pain. I pray that we all rest in His peace and not miss the lesson that heartache and anxiety brings. Yesterday I listened to a story related to Psalm 66:10 For thou, Oh God, have proved us: thou has tried us, as silver is tried.

 

Someone teaching a bible study decided to visit a silversmith to understand the refining of silver. When doing this the silver is held in the center of the flame and watched very carefully. When the silversmith can see his reflection in the piece he quickly removes it or the silver would also melt away. This is what God does with us. He watches us closely when we go through a trial and when He can see His reflection He moves us out of the fire before we are destroyed along with the impurities.

 

I've also been learning about redemption and sanctification. Redemption by our Lord Jesus is a free gift entered in by faith through the narrow gate to his eternal Kingdom. John 3:15 But I believe there is also a second narrow gate at the Bema or judgment seat after we pass from this world and enter the millennium. Acts 14:22 The Bema seat is for those who run the hard race of sorrow, carefulness, confession, watchfulness, and humility by labor and struggle. Jesus is asking us to die to ourselves and let Him live through us. We will be judged, and I think we'll see our failures without condemnation as well as successes, but the Bema seat will be for reigning with Christ. How we live here on earth will decide the rewards of how we will rule with Him. In 2 Cor. 11:25-28 Paul says I'm an example follow me. He lists all the terrible things that have happened to him following Christ, but believes the future prize is worth everything. Peace like a river comes only from dying to ourselves because sometimes the river meanders but it's also full of waterfalls and rapids.

 

Finally I want to say this is my belief and I know others see scripture differently and that's Ok because Acts 17:11 says to search the scriptures daily to see if those things be so. I only wish to bring others comfort because I know how difficult this life can be. love to all, betsy


  • Kevin Blankenship likes this