Overwhelming, Just Plain Over Whelming!

 Monday, May 9, 2016

 

“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your request be made know to God.  And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6-7).

 Hey Gang  My dad was a coal miner. We lived in the back country of Pennsylvania.  Some say we lived so far back in the sticks that even the hoot-owls carried knapsacks and they had to pump sunshine to us.  We were as poor as church mice so a trip to store to purchase new threads was an annual event.   But this year’s trip was to result in nearly tragic overtones.

 The mine owner had recently installed a large auger machine that took the pick and shovels out of the hands of the miners and placed it in this wonderful new device.   A brand spanking new machine that made life oh-so-much easier for the miners. Add to this our yearly trip to town-store for a new pair of overalls in the same week.  Wow, life seemed so much brighter! 

 And then it happened.  As Dad was standing near the machine, the machine hit a rock that kicked the machine back several feet and Dad’s brand new coveralls got caught in the cogs of the machine - which began to pull him towards the digger part of the machine.  If the machine would have continued unabated, he would have been crushed.

 A t that moment a God-thing happened! One of the supervisors, who wanted to see the machine in operation, decided that was the moment he would visit the work-site.  When he saw what was happening, he immediately recognized that within minutes Dad would have been crushed. There happened to be an iron bar leaning on the cave wall. He picked up and shoved it into the cogs, immediately shutting the machine down.

 Shutting the engine down would not have saved my dad’s life; it took several minutes after cutting power for the machine to totally shut down.  The iron pick stopped the cogs immediately!  I remember them bringing Dad into the house on a litter and then the months of rehab that followed.  I also remember that my life changed, for even though my Dad recovered physically, he never recovered mentally from that terrifying experience, and we soon left the mountains and moved into the city.  ( The material of the old coveralls would have torn away.)

 Mining has always been a very dangerous occupation and there was always a constant element of fear in the air.  Mining accidents are not rare and, in most cases, there are injuries and death.  For several years after Dad’s accident, I would have dreams that a gigantic ball was always rolling after me and trying to crush me.

  I never told anyone about these nightmares because I did not want to add additional burdens to my Mom and Dad, who were in the recovery mode from dad’s accident.

 So why am I telling you all of this?  Because fear is like a cancer and eats the very heart out of your soul.   In my growing up years, fear was a driving force in my life.  And it remained that way until one day when I read these words from Mark 4:40: “Why are you so fearful?  How is it that you have no faith?”    For the first time in my life I realized that I was the cause of my fear, and that fear was a faith issue.

 Now hear this old duffer:  I have received literally hundreds of messages over the airways and not a single one is telling e we are going to have a wonderful year filed with victories over the evil one.  I have also received many messages that the anxiety level of many folks is very close to the red zone.   Jesus said, “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has chosen gladly to give you the Kingdom” (Luke 12:32).  God gave us this piece of assurance through His prophet Isaiah when He said, “For I Am the Lord your God, who holds your right hand.  Who says to you, “DO NOT FEAR, I WILL HELP YOU.”  

  Keep in mind my young friends, the victory is already ours because of the cross of Calvary!  On the cross, Jesus cried out, “It is finished”.     Sooooo. Put your hands in the hands of the One who stilled the waters.  

 

Blessings,   Gramps

Did You Know Satan Is Out to Destroy Your Faith?

Thursday, May 5, 2016

 

“Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat; but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail:” 

Hey Gang, do you think Satan would like to sift you like wheat?  Do we sometimes, or even often, place a bull’s eye on our back as a target for Satan’s fiery darts? “But I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.” Luke 31-32).

If there was ever a time when we need to heed the writer of Hebrews words it is now: “Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward” (Hebrews 10:35).  If you are a child of God, you are in a fierce war.  In fact, you might even go so far as to say you are in a life-and-death war.  Satan has but one goal, to destroy the faith of all of God’s elect. And the stronger your faith, the more determined he is to sic his alligators on you.  

If there is anything that gets his dander up it is unshakable faith.  I wish I could attest to the fact that when you kick his can and stay firm on the Rock that is Jesus Christ, Satan sees he has wasted his time and moves on – but he just turns up the heat.

Why? Because he knows when God’s people, who are called by His name unite their hearts and humble themselves before Him, pray from the depth of their hearts, seek a every growing deeper relationship with Him and put away all of the bangles and beads that become idols that separate us from Jesus, he(Satan) is in big trouble. ” Throughout the Word we find that when we stand on the promises of God we gain strength.  We learn what Jesus truly meant when He said, ”Greater is He who is in you than he who is the world” (I John 4:4.

Hey Gang, yes, the times are tough.  Everything that can be shaken is being shaken so that only those things that cannot be shaken will remain (Hebrews 12:27-29), but we are also challenged by Paul in his letter to Timothy, his adopted spiritual son, “Fight a determined warfare, holding faith, and a good conscience”(1 Timothy 1:19).

The apostle Peter came under a ferocious attack against his faith.  His trust in Jesus so enraged hell that Satan asked permission to ‘sift him’ to see if he would stand.  Is not Jesus’ words of tremendous encouragement in this day of woe? “But I have prayed for you”.  I have prayed that your faith will stand the test and when you are converted, my mission for you is to strengthen your brethren.”

Maybe right at this moment you are going through a terrible storm in your life.  And the harder you try the deeper the woe in your life.  I can say, ‘been there and done that’ many times throughout my lifetime.  There have been many times when that storm has raged within my heart and soul and many times when I have cried out, “Why? Lord”?

In closing this Epistle I want to share that God has given us a powerful weapon to use against Satan’s attacks on our faith.  The weapon?  We are not to try and figure everything out.  We are to set our eyes on “the great cloud of witnesses” already in glory who have made it through with their faith intact”.  “Wherefore seeing we also are encompassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight. And the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us” ((Hebrews 12:1).  What joy filled my heart when this verse finally sank into my understanding.

It is these times when we need to have Luke’s words tucked away in our computer hard drive: “Now will not God bring about justice for His elect who cry to Him day and night, and will He delay long over them?  I tell you that He will bring about justice for them quickly.  However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth” (Luke 18:7-8). We need to we make sure our armor is in place, our lamps are filled with the oil of the Holy Spirit and we have the Sword, the word of God in sharpened and secure in our hands.

Notice Jesus’ question here:  Will he find faith in his people as they endure days of darkness and oppression?   I wonder how many would endure, if He would ask such a question today- in our nation that has chosen to ‘go its own way’.  I believe Jesus is asking, “Will the faith of the elect hold fast when the shaking storms come?”  The question each believer needs to ask, in this day of shaking is “Will my anchor hold fast?”  Or better, “Will I hold fast to My anchor Jesus?”

 I pray Father, in Jesus name, all who receive these morning gramps’ messages are solid on the Rock who is Jesus.

Blessings,   Gramps