The Knots in My Rope

We have many fine opportunities to get knots in our rope in this age. Not that folks back in the day had it easy or anything, but we have perhaps too many means of getting bad news. Each message can bring more bad news until we have one big knotted-up rope. The voice of the old man wants to cry and whine, and maybe stick in an 'unfair!' here and there. The old man thinks that God is mean and feels that grumbling ought to do the trick. But we don't live in the Spirit without a new voice rising up to contest what that old sinner says.

Love reminds us that God is anything but mean and does not need to tie knots in our line to bring us to sanctification. However, since we have labored to tie some of the knots and the world has provided many others: the voice of faith in Christ says that those knots have a purpose, and that though our loving God did not cause them He can certainly use them for our good. Faith reminds us that God will untie those knots at just the right time.

The start of the Christmas season is a real knot-tying time for many of us. Our Adversary does not want any of God's children to enjoy this time. A time of joy and renewal for Christ-ones is not in the world's plan for us, but it is God's plan and ways that bring us joy and peace. We don't always know or notice all the ways small and great our God is working for us and in us daily for our sanctification. We do get the reason for the season though!

Have a very wonderful and merry Christmastime in the love of Christ!

Bucky

A Little Extra Charge

Thanksgiving feasting passes for another year but the leftovers remain for a while. As winter begins, I start charging up my truck battery every couple of weeks. Living in a small town as I do, the truck does not go far enough in a day to charge the battery, so I must give it a little extra charge. I have found that my walk with Christ requires a little extra charge from time to time. Perhaps it is due to not driving enough miles each day in His word. Maybe it comes through an insufficient current of prayer. It may well be that this life is just too tough for the children of God and we need that little extra charge on a regular basis. Above all, it may be a reminder that I can never bring myself home to God's Heaven in my own strength.

We need the constant current of prayer and meditation in the Word. We also need that extra charge at times. In this season, we may find it in Christmas songs or in Christmas programs at the church. We may find a little extra voltage in the joyous faces of children at Christmastime, or even in a cheerful greeting from our brothers and sisters in Christ. All of this simile and metaphor may be the long way of saying that you and I need Jesus every day, even every moment.

Have a very merry Christmas in Christ!

Bucky

Happy Thanksgiving!

To my brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus, Happy Thanksgiving! I pray that your celebration of Thanksgiving holds joy, peace and the love of Christ.

Giving thanks to God for our many blessings,

Bucky

It's Tough To Be Thankful Sometimes

The day before Thanksgiving dawns with a promise of change in the weather. Last night, I slept like the proverbial log, very easy to be thankful. Unfortunately, my log was one rolling down a rocky hillside, much tougher to be thankful. We all have those circumstances and situations where we find it tough to thank God. We have a few examples in the Bible where our heroes of the faith found the same problem. Paul asked three times for a certain thorn in his side to be taken away. The great apostle wasn't feeling the love in his circumstance until God explained to him the reason and provided the grace. Jesus, our Lord and Savior, asked that a terrible cup might be taken away from Him, but obeyed God and said, "Not My will but Thine be done." We are grateful to Him because the reason was to save us!

It's tough to be thankful sometimes. Tests, trials, tribulations and other circumstances come our way frequently in this fallen world. If you believe in Jesus, then I doubt you have it easy. The world just doesn't like to go easy on those who believe in the One it hates. Yes, there is an evil power behind that hatred, and yes we do get to share in the suffering of our Lord because of it. However, between us and that hate is the sovereign power of God, and we can be thankful for Him. Like Job, we may suffer many terrible things in this life, but we are always in God's mighty hands.

Thank You, dear Lord, for Your grace!

Bucky

Grace Makes Thanksgiving

Two days, and the travel has already begun. Thanksgiving means getting away from home for many, for others it is a time to stay put. In either case, we trust in the Lord to guide us and keep us safe against the day of His returning. This spirit of faith in us also causes us to speak out for Christ as Paul tells us in today's scripture:

"And since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, 'I believed and therefore I spoke,' we also believe and therefore speak, knowing that He who raised up the Lord Jesus will also raise us up with Jesus, and will present us with you. For all things are for your sakes, that grace, having spread through the many, may cause thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God." (2 Corinthians 4:13-15)

In this, we also learn where our giving of thanks comes from - grace. What an amazing thing that grace raises up in us the thanksgiving that God desires from us. We learned a couple of days back, or many books and a thousand years or so in Bible time, that the Law commanded thanksgiving offerings only come from freewill. Since all good things come from God, how do we choose to give thanks? This is what Paul tells us in this verse this fine morning. Where grace comes by way of faith in Christ, thanksgiving to God our Father will abound to His glory.

Amen, come Lord Jesus!
Bucky

Thanksgiving Week!

It's here! The week of thanksgiving leading up to Thanksgiving! I realize for some that the holiday is all about travel, food, football, food, time off work, food, shopping, and food. However, as we recall who saved us from our sins, granted us grace for eternal life, and promised to come back for us, we tend to get all thankful at this time of the year. We don't know the author of this psalm but he or she said it quite well.

Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,
And into His courts with praise.
Be thankful to Him, and bless His name. (Psalm 100:4)

Be thankful to Him, and indeed we do on this week especially. This may well be the manner in which the saints will enter into the New Jerusalem when it comes down in the great day of the Lord. This may be how you and I will enter Heaven should we sleep before that time. Thanksgiving and praise lead us into prayer and meditation, worship and song here and now. How much more will the sight of our Lord's city cause us to burst out into thanksgiving and praise! Great will be our rejoicing when Jesus comes to take us home.

Enjoy this week of giving thanks to our Lord,

Bucky

Magnify The Lord!

How does one magnify the Lord? It seems at first an impossible thing to accomplish. The Lord is all present and all powerful, how can a worm like me magnify the Lord? Yet, a couple of times in the Bible we have answers to that. First our psalm-ic friend David tells us of magnifying the Lord with thanksgiving.

But I am poor and sorrowful;
​​Let Your salvation, O God, set me up on high.
I will praise the name of God with a song,
​​And will magnify Him with thanksgiving. (Psalm 69:29-30)

So many lessons on life and living come from the psalms that we might well expect to learn of this in the music of the Bible. Obviously we don't make the Lord bigger in size such as one would magnify a grain of sand with a magnifying glass. Instead we magnify the Lord by telling of Him in our thanksgiving. Jesus is our salvation. Therefore, we spread the Good News of Jesus Christ just as He commanded. Which is how Mary began her great thanksgiving song.

"My soul magnifies the Lord" (Luke 1:46)

Look, we have a Christmas lead in for thanksgiving. Let our souls magnify the Lord in thanksgiving this holiday season!

Bucky

The Voice of Thanksgiving

One of our greatest witnesses in this life is the voice we use toward the Lord. Is it one of anger, shaking the verbal fist at God over this thing or that thing that happened to you? People see that and they wonder, 'Where is the love?' Like Job, we may demand to meet God in court over a seeming injustice in our lives. We also, like Job, may in time be brought up short by the realization that we are quite in the wrong. David tells us of a better way to proclaim the Lord: with thanksgiving.

That I may proclaim with the voice of thanksgiving, And tell of all Your wondrous works. (Psalms 26:7)

The voice of thanksgiving may not gather the same attention quite so quickly as anger, but we can see that it is a much better witness of our Lord's goodness and mercy. The love they seek is in the wondrous works of God. We get to tell of them!

During this season of giving thanks, let us speak with the voice of thanksgiving. If your day is so terrible that you cannot think of anything to be thankful for, ask the Lord and let Him show you the way, or even better - the Way. Even on the worst of our days, the wondrous work that Jesus did for us still holds us safely in His salvation. We can be thankful for our Lord Jesus when things seem just awful. When the trials of life threaten to overwhelm, witness with the voice of thanksgiving that God loved the world so much He sent His Son to save you and me.

On those worst of days, the voice of thanksgiving might just lift us out of our self-pity and into the knowledge of God's love. Give it a try!

Bucky

Freewill Offerings

Just a bit over one week from now, we will offer up to God our thanksgiving on a holiday not coincidentally named Thanksgiving. In the Law we have this command from the Lord:

"And when you offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving to the LORD, offer it of your own free will." (Leviticus 22:29)

Some things, holidays being one, can become institutionalized and religion-ized until we forget that the original command and purpose was that it be of our choice. God didn't want thanksgiving that was done from duty or obligation, particularly that which was forced by an authority. So we have a command from the ultimate authority that thanksgiving be done only when freely chosen. And they say the Bible is without humor.

We see that now, but there was a time when it was dark to those of us who did not believe. What good is a religious system that commands freewill? How do you control the people that way? Of course, God wants our thanksgiving to come from a thankful heart full of love. We should give thanksgiving offerings to God often, but not because we have to or feel it is our duty. Offer it of your own free will, what a great privilege and honor! How many times in this world have you been made to obey some regulation and not understood the need? Here is one that commands that it be followed only out of the freedom to choose to do so. If I have any authority and command you to celebrate Thanksgiving, then I ruin its goodness for you. As God commands, do it of your own free will.

In God's grace,
Bucky

Do You Feel Anger?

A good question for any day, but especially so when the news media reports on events that should make most anyone angry. Terrorist acts, deaths of children, persecution of Christians, lies of politicians, a bright sunny day in a place where you ain't - there is usually something for everyone when it comes to anger. Jesus felt anger too.

In and of itself, anger is not sin, for we know that Jesus never sinned. We can be angry when anger is called for, but the peace Jesus gave to us should always return. Remaining angry for too long tends to cause damage both inside and out. Jesus even told us to be angry and sin not (by David in the Psalms (4:4) and Paul quoting the psalm in his letter to the Ephesians (4:26)). The second part of David's verse tells us a valuable insight: "Meditate within your heart on your bed, and be still."

After the anger comes, we may need at times to repair to the bed for some meditation alone with God heart to heart. I have at times found to my embarrassment that my anger was unjustified and myself just downright in the wrong. Of course, if the anger is directed at God, we are always going to end up that way.

Enjoy a peaceful day in Christ!
Bucky

The Latter Days

Reading Acts 2, I find it interesting that just after the outpouring of the Holy Spirit energized the disciples, Peter stands up and reminds the crowd of the words written by Joel the prophet. You recall some of the words:

But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:

​

‘​And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God,
​​That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh;
​​Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
​​Your young men shall see visions,
​​Your old men shall dream dreams.
​​And on My menservants and on My maidservants
​​I will pour out My Spirit in those days;
​​And they shall prophesy.
​​I will show wonders in heaven above
​​And signs in the earth beneath:
​​Blood and fire and vapor of smoke.
​​The sun shall be turned into darkness,
​​And the moon into blood,
​​Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the LORD.
​​And it shall come to pass
​​That whoever calls on the name of the LORD
​​Shall be saved.’ (Acts 2:16-21 from Joel 2:28-32)

This is a prophecy about people making prophecies. You might even come up with a tongue twister, "Peter prophecies per the prophet's prophecy that people will prophecy!" That was so hard that I had trouble typing it, forget speaking it.

This prophecy is the one that sometimes gives us trouble. Was that dream I had last night significant? Should I be telling the world? Am I young or old? Our part is not with the young men or the old men for they are 'yours'. Where we fall is in the menservants and maidservants of God, the 'My' part. Ever wonder why there are so many men and women preaching today? This prophecy is why. God said once through Joel, twice through Peter, and again through all of us that this would happen. Don't knock those menservants and maidservants: you and me and they are part of this new army of prophets speaking through God's Holy Spirit. Have fun, prophet of God!

Bucky

Not My Will, But Thine

Ah, Friday, what a great day for God to release me from suffering! I know this works because that is what happened when Jesus asked that God take away the cup of suffering from Him! It worked right? Anyone? No? Uh oh...

We know from reading the Word that Jesus said those great words signifying His eternal submission to the will of God His Father, "Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done." (Luke 22:42) We win because God's will did not waver and His Son did not escape the suffering. Therefore, should we ask for God to remove our suffering when our Lord and Savior did not escape His? Do we dare expect such a thing even on a Friday? Actually, given that Friday may have been the day of our Lord's greatest suffering, we might be way off base in asking for release on this day of all of them. "Nevertheless not my will, but thine..."

In this life, we face much suffering. Like Job, God doesn't send the suffering to make us hurt, He doesn't send the suffering at all. We may be targeted specifically by the Adversary, like Job, or things may just happen in this fallen world. We may have a spouse who tries to cheer us up by saying, "Curse God and die!" like Job's wife did. Or, we may have friends who gather to verbally beat a confession out of us as Job's friends did, fully convinced that Job had done something very wrong. Think of the alternative Job's friends were desperately trying to avoid: the man had done nothing wrong and yet his life was turned upside down by disaster after disaster. You can see why Job's friends earnestly wanted Job to have done something heinous that they could easily avoid doing.

I cannot claim to be without sin in my own thoughts and actions. How much more should I suffer than my Lord Jesus who did nothing wrong? Hmm, but Jesus did all the suffering for my sins in my place. Better to ask, "How do I merit such a sacrifice on my behalf?" Of course, I do not merit any such thing. The love of God sent His Son to save me from my sins. So, why again do I dare to ask for removal of suffering? God is good and I have faith in His goodness, love and mercy. No quality of mine is enough for this asking, it is all dependent upon God's goodness and love.

May God bless us on this Friday and every other day too!

Bucky

Blindsided!

Isn't that the way it goes in this world? We worry about one thing that might happen while another is sneaking up on us from the rear. In case you haven't heard yet, Sidney is losing the cabling plant owned through the years by Prestolite, Krone, ADC, Tyco, TE Connectivity, and finally Commscope. Some of that mess o' names were parts of/subdivisions/subsidiary companies of the other, but for the people working there it meant their jobs and means of making a living. I dealt with them for many years and bought a ton or two of cabling with their various brand names. Many Cabela's facilities boast cable that has served well and lasted for many years. The plant will be sold, so there is a possibility that it will be purchased quickly and put back into operation, but possibilities never put food on the table and they don't usually pay very well.

A pile of years ago, I might have worried more over the loss of my supply (the cable), but today the Lord has brought me to see the plight of the people. Uncertainty in your finances is a frightening way to live. The fear spreads throughout the community as wallets and purses get held more tightly. Do we declare the Holiday Season of Fear or do we look elsewhere for assurance?

I have held that dreadful season a couple of times in the past decade, and it is probably the least fun way to spend Thanksgiving and Christmas. Looking to God is definitely the way to go, but it must be every morning and evening and quite a few times in between. The fear creeps back in every day through the myriad of little things we do. Pay a bill and wonder how many more times you can afford to pay it. Buy groceries and you are reminded of the dwindling or empty pantry back home (if you still have one). Little luxuries like a movie or a CD become risky if not impossible. Those and many other things project that fearful uncertainty right back into the forefront of your mind. Each time, returning to the Word of God with verses memorized helps to turn us back to God in prayer. In those times of fear it is then that we realize what Paul meant by constant prayer. Fight the fearful uncertainty with the blessed assurance of God.

Pray for our brothers and sisters in Christ,

Bucky

The Armor We Wear

Snow falls on this Veterans Day. It may well have done so on the 11th day of the 11th month so many years ago when the First World War concluded with a treaty. Someone then coined the phrase The War to End All Wars. It wasn't. Perhaps a reading of the Bible might have prevented that little slogan that so badly failed. WWI was terrible, but in the Bible Jesus tells of wars and rumors of wars before the end. We may need to give those folks from long ago a break though. The Revelation speaks of conquest, war, plague, and famine. The time before the war, the great war, and the influenza epidemic right after that war may well have seemed that a fourth part of the world had indeed suffered under the four horsemen of the apocalypse. Then along came the great depression as though to confirm the famine part. Had we lived in those times, we might well have thought the end had come, the tribulation started and Jesus on the way with the hosts of Heaven.

So where do we stand in relation to eternity on this Veterans Day? Several of us have served in those wars and rumors of war, all of us have lived through it. Earthquakes shake the ground in diverse places. Persecution happens all over the globe. Yet, Jesus has not come to take His beloved home. We soldier on.

Indeed, Paul used the model soldier of the Roman legions to issue all of us a set of armor for the war we fight daily. A breastplate of righteousness, polished and gleaming. Not our righteousness but the imputed righteousness of Christ Himself. The helmet of salvation - not earned, but given to us, protecting our head and the wonderful mind inside. A belt of truth to protect our softer parts, and who is the Truth but Jesus our Lord! Feet, those important carriers of us when all mechanical things have failed, shod with the gospel of peace. A shield of faith to protect everything and a weapon of unsurpassed potency that is the Word of God.

We celebrate today those who served in our nation's armed forces, and we do well in that, but in Christ all of us are veterans of the most important war, the war to choose eternal life.

Bucky

One Hefty Lesson, Please!

Whew! I think I expended all I had in the Bible study lesson this morning, so I have nothing left for you. While I am quite exhaustible in many ways, the dear Holy Spirit of our Lord is perfectly not. We have within us a well that never runs dry. When I have tapped out and dried up, the Lord has only begun. No desert has ever dried up so fast as those of us who depend upon a personal store of love, grace, peace, and hope to share with others. Our personal store is tiny; the tank of our cistern very small indeed. We have so little to share that few will notice when we dry up and blow away. However, tap into that inexhaustible storehouse of love and joy contained in God's Spirit within and we gush with the flow available to the least of these.

When it comes to love, joy, peace, patience, kindness and the other fruits of the Spirit, God is never stingy or miserly. We have all we can hold and then some. We drink all we can and overflow with the goodness. One hefty lesson from the Word, please! And God pours it on us with both His mighty hands. We reach for the regular coffee and find the pot filled with super-mocha-cafe-espresso triple-brewed ultra-Atlantean blend. (Please don't ask me "Where can I get some of that?") In other words, God is always ready to help when we have reached the end of the little bit that is our offering to Him. Ask and ye shall receive!

Have a wonderful new day in Christ!

Bucky

Back to the Book

Advertising uses the word 'creamy' a lot to describe various food products and occasionally some that are not for food. One might think that the best ingredient to use for making something creamy would be cream. However, we are just beginning to come out of the cholesterol scare of the last 2 or 3 decades so cream is still not often used to make something creamy. In our Christian training we have access to a great many books that are not the Bible. Though the books are helpful and good for us, we still need the pure word of God. It is interesting that even with our common abuse of many words, the one set of books that remain biblical is the Bible.

Of course I won't be totally correct in that. In this age of writing most anything on the Internet, someone will have used 'biblical' for something other than the Bible. What we want to get at is the yearning we have for getting back to God's Word often. Max Lucado's book, 3:16: The Numbers of Hope is a wonderful book, but it doesn't replace John's gospel (and was never meant to, I'm sure). Various commentaries are great to have on the book shelf, but still we like to reach for the the Bible, that great book on which the commentaries are commenting. The Spirit calls us back to the Word, and what a wonderful Word He is!

Every word of God is pure;
He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him. (Proverbs 30:5)

Bucky

What A Mess We're In!

No, no, the little cloud is not on the horizon; the entire sky is covered in the darkest thunderheads. The danger is not faraway; it's right here! There are those days when the trouble seems to have arrived in the blink of an eye. The little cloud of warning yesterday has grown into the full-blown hurricane this morning. It's just too bad I missed the little cloud. We all have days like that.

Whether we fell asleep and missed the warning signs or the storm came quicker by far than we expected, the troubles are now here and fear rises to choke off our action. We can hardly pray for the fear that blankets our thoughts and emotions. God must be off on vacation. What happened?! Panic seems too tame a word for what we feel, and everyone talking about it doesn't help to get a handle on the thing. Yet, somehow, God's throne is not rocking and rolling on the waves of trouble. The crystal sea before the throne remains still and calm. Isn't God paying attention? What a mess we're in!

When prayer does come, we always find the same thing - God is not upset or afraid. His Holy Spirit is not agitated within us by our thoughts of fear, but perhaps just a little disappointed that we haven't showed up in prayer all the sooner for our feelings of dread and despair. The wolves may be scratching at the door and the buzzards circling overhead. Horrors of the world may parade themselves before you. The peace of our Lord is still given to us.

David faced times of fear, and from them come great psalms: try Psalms 56 & 57 when that time of fear comes to you.

Bucky

Let Us Look For The Lord

The Unbeliever looked for the Lord in books but found nothing to convince him. The Unbeliever looked for the Lord in humans and found no one good enough. The Unbeliever looked for the Lord in nature but found only striving and blood. The Unbeliever looked for the Lord in technology and science and the other deeds of man, but found no hope there. He read the Christian Bible, but found it full of much of what he had already discovered. The Unbeliever then, through lack of evidence, convinced himself that God doesn't exist. The world welcomed him with open arms, a hero to the unbelieving. Someone wanted that unbeliever though, someone who does not give up easily.

Years passed, and the Unbeliever felt the pains of growing older. Modern medicine helped him some, but cures for the worst of his ills and pains were themselves often brutal, slow, and not entirely effective. While looking upward from a hospice bed one morning, the Unbeliever began to ask, "God are you there?" Death stood in the corner of his room, but something held it at bay for the moment. A cacophonous parade of sins marched past, but greatest of all of them, the champion anchoring the entire line, was his own cherished unbelief. Near to Death it stood, powerful and unrepentant, a sin to be reckoned with. The Unbeliever had found no hope in his unbelief and he had none to comfort him at the end. Death drew closer.

Suddenly the parade ended, frozen in the midst of their celebration, stopped cold by someone. A man stood beside Death. A man of no particular beauty, one that a person might overlook in a crowd. He told the Unbeliever that the entire parade of sin had been paid for long ago on a cross near Jerusalem. As the man had paid for them, he wanted them back. All the Unbeliever had to do was believe.

We know that story in a way because we too looked for evidence of the senses at one time and found it not. We walk near Death every day as the multitude of possible deaths pass us on every side. We wish that every unbeliever might meet the Lord and believe as Doubting Thomas did. Some do meet Jesus: Paul on the Damascus road, Stephen as the heavens opened before him, and John as he was called up there. One did not believe and two very much did believe in the Lord. Most of us will not get to meet our Lord until that moment when He brings us home. Yet we believe, and we pray for those who do not. Those prayers are not ignored. Perhaps even now a lifelong unbeliever will meet the Lord in his last few moments. Keep on praying!

Have a wonderful day in Christ!

Bucky

No Denial, Just Prayer

Have you ever been bothered by something? Some would have us do a sort of mental trick by repeating a denial until the problem somehow magically goes away. If you've ever had a hungry kid or pet, you will know that the brink of insanity is much closer than one might think and that repeating nonsense is one way to get there faster. A much better method we find is to bring all problems to God in prayer.

Prayer is our constant communication channel to the Creator of Heaven and Earth. A privilege of staggering proportions is prayer. No denial, just prayer. We realize and speak our need for God by prayer. Jesus taught us to pray and gave us a model to follow. Many times our Lord went away by Himself to pray to God. In His final moments on the cross our Lord Jesus prayed by calling out to God. We follow our Lord by praying.

Denial probably never solved anything. Prayer on the other hand brings you and me to God. He already knows about the problem. What He wants is for us to come to Him in prayer. Paul reminded us to let our requests be made known to God. (Phil 4) Find new strength, good help, endurance, perseverance, encouragement, and resolution in prayer. Don't be afraid of wearing out the divine ears, Jesus told us to come often to prayer and repeat as needed.

In Jesus Name!
Bucky

Faith In...

In my own strength I have accomplished nothing worth mentioning. Actually, even those unmentionable accomplishments were accomplished under the strength God gave to me before I knew that God had strengthened me to have faith in Him. What did I just write anyway?

Faith in all things is our journey with Christ. We don't come by this naturally, for born as sinners we look first to the things we can sense. I cannot feel faith, or touch it, or see it. Yet, I know that it is there in me. Where did this thing come from? The Book of Hebrews tells us that faith is the substance of things hoped for; the evidence of things not seen. (11:1) Paul tells us in his letter to the Romans that it comes by way of gift. I didn't earn faith, find it by the roadside, or accomplish it in my strength. My faith came by way of a gift from above. First through Christ who died for us, and then by way of the Holy Spirit given to us. I don't get to claim that it was my accomplishment. I cannot mount the podium to receive a faith award, yet I received an award of faith just the same. How did I rate such a wonderful thing?

It can only be through God's love that we are given such faith in what we cannot see or feel or touch. Faith in writing comes when I begin writing; I don't deserve it, but I do get to exercise it. Faith in ministry comes to those who minister. They deserve it no more than do I, yet the ministers minster in faith so well. Faith in Jesus comes to those who believe in Jesus. Part of me wants to grab faith and present it to those who do not believe. "Here it is! See it?" But that cannot be or faith would no longer be faith.

Glory to God for the gift of faith,

Bucky

I Love to Have Him Here With Me

In its terrible pride the diabolical part of me seeks to proclaim some extreme. Gladly it would say that I am the worst of the worst in something or the most of the most in something else. The Lord is with me always though. His Spirit and my spirit communing together in holy fellowship. The Lord tells a different story about those extremes. I love to have Him here with me. For what that diabolical pride would speak of me, I don't need. I am content to be one of many sheep in my Lord's pasture. Special because of Him, and not through something I have done or failed to do. Blessed through His grace and not through my merit. Saved by His blood and not by a religious system. Just a sheep in the Good Shepherd's flock is much better than anything that diabolical pride has spoken in any case.

Each day we need to be reminded of and take into our hearts our Lord's presence. The Lord will not leave us because we don't think of Him on a particular day, but the day goes so much better when we take that time to pray, meditate on the Word, and just be aware of His presence in our lives.

Imagine the Lord always waiting to hear from us. Eager to hear our slightest and briefest thoughts directed to Him in prayer. We don't need a priest to tell it to, nor a carefully edited formal prayer. We only need to speak to our Lord from the heart, at any time and at all times. Blessed and glorious is our Lord, who loves us so much that He wants to hear from you and me today!

Have a loving and graceful November with the Lord Jesus!

Bucky