Do you hear Him knocking? ~ August 24th, 2021
Matthew 24:33 So also, when you see all these things, you will know that He is near, right at the door. Luke 12:36 Then you will be like servants waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks, they can open the door for him at once. John 10:3 The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen for his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. John 14:23 Jesus replied, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word. My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. James 5:9 Do not complain about one another, brothers, so that you will not be judged. Look, the Judge is standing at the door!
Jesus stands at our gate and knocks, and there are many who never open to Him at all, and many more who open the door but slightly. The latter, while they may receive blessing, yet miss the fullness of Divine revealing which would flood their souls with love; the former miss altogether the sweetest benediction of life.
(J. R. Miller, D. D.)
OPENING TO ALL HIS KNOCKING
Jesus: “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with Me.” ~ Revelation 3:20
We often use this verse in speaking of Christ’s knocking at the door of the unbeliever’s heart to enter, and it is fine to use it in that way However, in context, this is a dramatic picture of Jesus standing outside the door of the worldly Loadicean church, knocking at the door to re-enter His Blood-bought fellowship. Jesus is the ultimate Gentleman and will not force His way in. We must invite Him. The individual human heart is not a one-room cavern; it is a multi-room abode. We can ask Jesus into our heart for salvation but keep some rooms’ doors closed. He then will go to each door, patiently knocking on each, until we have yielded all areas of our lives to Him. This is merely a pictorial representation of consecration and sanctification.
Dear fellow believer, has Jesus been knocking on the other doors of your heart, seeking entry to be Lord? Yielding to Him is sweet surrender, though the enemy of your soul will strike fear in you, whispering, “You have the ‘right’ to this aspect of your life. You have to live, after all.” Oswald Chambers spoke of this struggle with our soul’s “ownership.” If Christ is to be Lord of all your life, you must open all doors to His knocking. In “Of Other Worlds: Essays and Stories,” we read this from C. S. Lewis: “But how shall I describe the other knocking? It was, in some curious way, soft; ‘soft as wool and sharp as death,’ soft but unendurably heavy, as if at each blow some enormous hand fell on the outside of the Shoddy Sky and covered it completely. And with that knocking came a voice at whose sound my bones turned to water: ‘Child, child, child, let me in before the night comes.’” ~ Chuck Bassett
My friends, I do pray that you also can say as I do,
Hello, My Name Is "Child of the One True King!"
God's love and grace to you all!
Living out what He has worked in! ~ August 17th, 2021
Jesus: “For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of Heaven.” ~ Matthew 5:20
During Jesus’ earthly ministry, He often spoke as if He had already accomplished His death-burial-resurrection, as if grace had already been given, as if He expected saving-and-living faith to have already taken root in His listeners. (After all, He is the God Who “calls those things which do not exist as though they did,” Romans 4:17, NKJV.) The Sermon on the Mount is the greatest example of this. Our text is from that majestic sermon, and the hearers must have thought, “How can He believe that we can live like this?” However, after they were saved, they would understand that their righteousness was God’s righteousness, which is infinitely greater than that of the self-righteous Pharisees (Romans 1:17; 3:21; 2 Corinthians 5:21).
Why Me, Lord?
After we are saved, we must be careful not to make excuses for not living out this Godly righteousness (Philippians 2:12-13). We can excuse this or that by saying, “I am merely human. I am not perfect.” However, what we should do is “fess up” and say what Paul said: “For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:22-25). As Oswald Chambers put it, “My doubts spring from the depths of my own inferiority. If I detect these misgivings in myself, I should bring them into the light and confess them openly—“Lord, I have had misgivings about You. I have not believed in Your abilities, but only my own. And I have not believed in Your almighty power apart from my finite understanding of it.” ~ Chuck Bassett
For sure Chuck Bassett has written many blessed and inspired writings. I have many of them in this website. I believe this song goes so well with what Chuck was writing about. Listen to these lyrics from the song:
Oh may all who come behind us find us faithful May the fire of our devotion light their way May the footprints that we leave Lead them to believe And the lives we live inspire them to obey Oh may all who come behind us find us faithful!
Find Us Faithful
Hmm. My friends, what will you be leaving behind? This life is like a vapor compared to eternity. We are only given this day. If you are blessed with another day it is because God still has work for you. Remember He knows every detail about your life. He is a patient and loving God. Why me Lord? Because He loves us!
God's love and grace to you all!
Yes, in Christ alone! ~ August 11th, 2021
How awesome this writing by Chuck Bassett is. Chuck was a Facebook friend of mine until the Lord called him home. Chuck made his stand with Jesus. My friends, where do you stand? For me I stand with Jesus and all His believing children! On solid rock I stand, all other is sinking sand. Just open your eyes and look around!
The Stand
SHARING GOD'S VISION OF OUR REDEMPTION Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. ~ Hebrews 11:1, NKJV Thank God for the “new vision” He gives when we come to faith in Jesus. When we are “born again” (John 3:3, 7), our vision extends beyond time and space. It makes perfect sense: we have within us the very Spirit of God, Who imparts to us characteristics of God, including our vision of life. We can believe (even far beyond our feelings and circumstances) the far-reaching, seemingly outlandish promises that God declares about us. You may not feel holy, but you know that in Christ you have been made holy (Hebrews 2:11). You may not feel righteous, but you, in Christ, have become the very righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21). You may not feel like a king or priest, but you know that God has declared you so (Revelation 1:6; 5:10). You may not feel as if you have been raised and seated with Christ in the heavenly realms, but you know that you have been placed there (Ephesians 2:6). You may not feel like more than a conqueror, but you know that God sees you that way in Christ (Romans 8:37). Yes, you live by the same grace through faith by which you were saved (Ephesians 2:8-9). ~ Chuck Bassett
In Christ Alone
I truly believe there will be many that come judgement day will hear Jesus say as it is written in Matthew 7:23;
"And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity." Doesn't this sound like our world today? Don't be left, be right with Jesus today!
God's love and grace to you all!
Is there any hope? ~ August 5th, 2021
On May 23, 1939, the USS Squalus was just beginning a test dive in the Atlantic, not far from Portsmouth, N.H.
The Navy submarine carried a crew of 59 – five officers, 51 enlisted men and three civilian inspectors. On that day, their test was to complete an emergency dive because once under water, it was difficult for enemy aircraft to locate a submarine.
At 8:35 a.m., the order was issued to prepare to dive. However, just after she submerged, the engine room began to flood. Somehow the main induction valve, a large opening that brought air to the engines on the surface, had opened.
Rockets were fired from the sub to the surface from time to time. After four hours and the sixth rocket was launched, a sister sub saw the smoke. As soon as possible, divers descended.
Most of the 33 survivors were wet and increasingly cold. By 2 p.m., the air was decreasing. Toxic carbon dioxide made the men drowsy. The divers walked about on the hull of the sunken sub, trying to find some signs of life inside. Two other ships arrived, and the men in the Squalus could hear their propellers.
Listening intently, the divers recognized the dots and dashes of the Morse code, tapped inside the hull, spelling four words, “Is There Any Hope?” Never before had survivors of a submarine sinking ever been saved from such a depth.
Even though they knew ships were overhead, the time on the bottom must have been terrible. Those men desperately wanted an answer to their question, realizing they were doomed. They could do nothing to save themselves.
My friends, now fast forward to the year 2020 and 2021. The COVID-19 virus shuts down “countries”. Businesses closing. Schools closed. Churches closed. Division among people. Possibly the same question can be heard as what was coming from the sunken submarine back in 1939, “Is there any hope?”
Their only hope depended on whether someone would come down from above and rescue them. Thirty-three men of the 59-man crew were rescued in the first-ever underwater rescue.
Many people are like those men aboard the USS Squalus, maybe even you. Life looks hopeless. You realize you are living in the depths of sin and you can do nothing to save yourself.
But the Good News is hope is not far away from any one of us. Jesus came down from heaven and was born into the world to live among us. He came to save sinners through His death and resurrection.
No matter who you are or what you’ve done, you can be saved by grace through faith in Christ. “If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be save” (Romans 10:9 NKJ).
Is there any hope? As long as you have breath, Jesus is just a prayer away.
The Prayer
God's love and grace to you all!
Stuff ~ August 3rd, 2021
The TRUTH is, that all of the “STUFF” here on earth we work SO hard to buy and accumulate..does NOT mean a thing. At the end of the day...people will be cleaning out our "STUFF", going thru our "STUFF", figuring out what to do with all of our "STUFF"....this "STUFF" we've accumulated in our life. The only thing of VALUE that remains are the MEMORIES and what we deposit into others. May we all learn to spend less time accumulating "STUFF" and spend way more time making MEMORIES…
Stuff
As we go through life
many fail to see,
it is not about the “stuff”
it is about you an me.
All we worked for
and collected through the years
ends up meaningless
because you’re no longer here.
So many missed times
and memories to be shared,
gathering stuff to accumulate
we were so unaware.
We didn’t see time passing
we never seemed to have enough,
work, work, work,
gathering more stuff.
Well, I now have all the stuff,
my collecting days are through.
All meaningless now,
for I no longer have “you”!
E. P. Shagott
8/3/2021
Use wisely the seconds my friends, for minutes, hours, days, weeks, months and years they become. Don't waste them on stuff but rather family and friends. Grab onto each, love and enjoy each and every one.
God's love and grace to you all!
Where will you be? ~ August 1st, 2021
I like the George Strait song titled, "You'll Be There". I was thinking of it this morning as I still am going through the grieving process of my wife's passing. Also my brother who passed on October 1st, 2020. A tough 8 months for sure. For sure we don't know where our souls will travel. We each believe as we were taught or through our experiences. George Strait said in the lyrics to that song;
From the beginning of creation
I think our Maker had a plan
For us to leave these shores
And sail beyond the sand
he also said in the lyrics;
You don't bring nothin' with you here
And you can't take nothin' back
I ain't never seen a hearse with a luggage rack
Now this part as a believer and child of God, I know I won't need a hand, for I asked Jesus into my heart as a teenager!
So if you're up there watchin' me
Would you talk to God and say
Tell him I might need a hand
To see you both someday
You'll Be There
Because I do believe in the Gospel message and the Word of God, I believe our soul does have a journey to it's final destination. I recently seen these two pictures that describe it very well.
"Hell"
Now here are scriptures to describe it. Do your research, choose wisely!
As for heaven, it is written:1 Corinthians 2:9
But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
"Heaven"
One of my many poems that I have been blessed to write and is in the 2nd book of published poems I think states it so well. For me it does. For sure we won't know until the time comes for us to leave this life but I do pray "you'll be there" in Heaven with me together as a family of One!
God's love and grace to you all!
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