Author: BTP

Sickness — Part 1

“The Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing: Thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness” (Psalm 41:3).

My wife has been sick and in the hospital this week. Each day, they come in to attend to her. They do it because this is their job, and there is a paycheck at the end of the pay period. They do it well, because they are constantly being assessed and they know they could lose their position if they don’t perform to standard.

There is another one who cares for us in a far more wonderful way. This is the one that David spoke of in the above verse — the Lord, the Great Physician! He makes our bed, not out of a sense of duty, but because He loves us. Not only that, but He is constantly at our bedside day and night. The nurses and staff at the hospital do their duty and go on their way. Shifts change, people come and go. However, the Lord is still there. He promises, “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee” (Hebrews 13:5).

He makes our bed, and takes His place,

Beside the bed He makes,

And through the nights and dreary days,

His station there He takes.

Dear Young Christian:

It is the Lord’s will that we should cast our care and trouble on Him each day. In the Old Testament, David, exhorts us, “Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and He shall sustain thee: He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved” (Psalm 55:22). In the New Testament, the Apostle Peter urges, “Casting all your care upon Him; for He careth for you” (1 Peter 5:7).

The Lord also asks us not to cast our confidence away. “Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward” (Hebrews 10:35).

My problem is that I, so often, stupidly cast away my confidence and carry all my cares and burdens around with me. This only makes me miserable, complaining, fault-finding, and weary in the path of faith. Don’t cast your burden on the Lord, and then take it back.As we start another week of activity, let’s leave our burdens with the Lord, and go forth in complete faith and confidence in Himself. This will allow us to have a spiritually profitable and fruitful week.

 Your Christian Friend,

Jim Hyland

We would love to hear from you.

Send your comments and questions to jhyland1959@gmail.com

Wonderful

“His name shall be called Wonderful” (Isaiah 9:6).

Some seven hundred years after Isaiah announced the Son of God as Wonderful, the Lord Jesus appeared in this world in human form. Now we know by divine revelation that He is indeed wonderful in His person. John declared, “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).

However, no mind can fully fathom, no heart completely grasp, and no pen adequately describe how wonderful He truly is. The more the heart considers Him, the more wonderful He appears.

Still greater and more wonderful it is that He went to the cross and gave “Himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savor” (Ephesians 5:2).

• His name is Wonderful!

• He is a wonderful person!

• His glory is wonderful!

• His work is wonderful!

We have a wonderful Savior. Let our wonder turn to praise and worship today.

Now

There is always urgency in connection with the gospel. God’s time is always NOW! Not tomorrow, not later, but NOW! Here are some verses from the Bible that give us a sense of that urgency:

“BEHOLD, NOW is the accepted time; BEHOLD, NOW is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2).

“COME NOW, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool” (Isaiah 1:18).

“REMEMBER NOW thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them” (Ecclesiastes 12:1).

“ACQUAINT NOW thyself with Him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee” (Job 22:12).

How important it is to be saved, and to be saved NOW!

An Unforgiving Spirit

“Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you,
with all malice” (Ephesians 4:31).

An unforgiving spirit is like acid, it destroys the vessel in which it is stored. It eats away at a person until there is such bitterness that it causes a person to speak things that they ought not to speak. It can causes a person to say slanderous things that often do permanent damage. In some cases it may even cause actions and create hurts and feelings that can never be undone.

The following verses of Scripture give the remedy for such occasions and if followed, an unforgiving and bitter spirit would never take root in our lives:

“And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you” (Ephesians 4:32).

“Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye” (Colossians 3:13).

Let’s seek to be like Daniel, who in spite of everything, it is recorded “an excellent spirit was in him” (Daniel 6:3).

Nourishment

“I have rejoiced in the way of Thy testimonies, as much as in all riches” (Psalm 119:14).
“O how love I Thy law! it is my meditation all the day” (Psalm 119:97).
“How sweet are Thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” (Psalm 119:103).

Here are three quotes I read recently, that I thought were very helpful in regard to the need for reading the Word of God as food for our spiritual life.

• Not they that eat most, but they that digest most are the most nourished.

• Not they that get most, but they that keep most are the richest.

• So it is, not they that hear most, or read most, but they that meditate most, that are the most edified and nourished and enriched in their soul.

Do you read your Bible every day and then meditate on, and enjoy, what you read? If you do, you will be a healthy, nourished Christian with steady spiritual growth.

God’s Menu

“I have fed you” (Exodus 16:32).

Last night, four of us went out to a restaurant to eat. We were handed a menu with many choices and something to please the palate of everyone at the table. We all ordered something different, and enjoyed our meal and time of Christian fellowship together.

God’s Word is like an exhaustless menu of spiritual food. Job said, “I have esteemed the words of His mouth more than my necessary food” (Job 23:12). There is something for everyone, no matter at what stage we are in our Christian life. We may be just newly saved. “As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the Word, that ye may grow thereby” (1 Peter 2:2).We may be more mature in our Christian experience. “Strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil” (Hebrews 5:14). Whatever our level of growth, whatever our need, there is a buffet of spiritual food and drink at our finger tips, and it is all plentifully provided free of cost — unlike the meal at the restaurant last night. Feed on God’s Word every day!

An Hour with Him — Part 1

“I am continually with Thee” (Psalm 73:23).

Oh happy hour, when first we came

To know our sins forgiven:

To know our Savior, Jesus Christ,

Who died, who lives, in heaven;

We recollect His first embrace,

Never forget His saving grace.

Oh precious hour, with Him to walk,

Along faith’s path each day:

And prove Christ’s changeless faithfulness,

Which drives all fear away:

His grace sustains, His hand upholds,

His love, Himself, to us unfolds.

Oh joyful hour, when at the throne,

We spend with Jesus there;

And fellowship in sweet accord,

And find our source in prayer;

We would retire and there abide,

In Him we safely all confide.

(Continued next month.)

Dear Young Christian:

In Canada and the U.S., the first Monday in September is designated as Labor Day. In one of life’s ironies, most of the workers get the day off, so it really isn’t a day of labor but a day of rest. This is to reward hard-working people who have served their employers and done a good job in their everyday tasks. As believers, we are to do our work well so that we give testimony to the Lord who is our true Master. “Whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31). “Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ” (Ephesians 6:5).

There is another kind of labor that is given to each believer in Christ. “For we are labourers together with God” (1 Corinthians 3:9). This labor will not be finished until we arrived home in the Father’s house. That’s why we are reminded, “There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God” (Hebrews 4:9). In the meantime, we can and should labor diligently and happily for the Lord.

 Your Christian Friend,

Jim Hyland

We would love to hear from you.

Send your comments and questions to jhyland1959@gmail.com

A Contrast

“For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, And the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard entreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more: (For they could not endure that which was commanded, And if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart: And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake)” (Hebrews 12:18-21).

“Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, By a new and living way, which He hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, His flesh; And having an high priest over the house of God; Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water” (Hebrews 10:19-22).

What a contrast these two Scriptures give us. In the Old Testament, they approached God with fear and trembling. For us today we come with complete confidence in all the acceptance of Christ and His perfect work at Calvary.