Praise the Lord for the way that life is
filled with unspeakable blessings and often accompanied by endless
battles. In and through Christ, life is always full of blessings.
Even in the midst of atrocities and adversities the Lord of victory always
leads us in triumph. Praise the Lord, for He is
the Lord of wonders, mysteries and power. He is at work on earth in season and
out season, performing and demonstrating His majesty and grace. In the
words of Charles Wesley, "He speaks and, listening to His voice, new
life the dead receive." He is our Eternal contemporary and
companion. In the words of Kari Jobe, "We are not alone".
It is great blessing and marvelous
thrill to be loved by Jesus and propelled by Him into His kingdom to love day
by day under His grace and mercy, filled with His divine purposes. Praise
the Lord for this first day of new month August. WOW! Summer here in
New York, the Empire State, has been splendid. Praise the Lord for the
way we can enjoy His simple yet profound gifts every day. I am praying
and trusting that you all are being blessed to the hilt wherever you might be,
in travels , in labor and leisure, in work and at play with family and
friends, in ministry and mission. May we all sojourn on this
pilgrim's path knowing the Lord goes before as the pillar of cloud and pillar
of fire. He is our daily manna. He is our daily bread and the he is
the best wine we can ever have. . . His own body and His own blood.
In this dear world He is the One whose grace is sufficient for
our need. He sustains, strengthens, and compensates, and He Makes us walk
in triumph.
Alice and I have been having a sweet
summer. We have been working on our garden faithfully. We praise
the Lord how He sends the rain and sun brings about growth and harvest.
We walked on our old route yesterday. The nearby corn fields look
luxuriant, and some of the corn has grown tall - over 7 feet
already. The sweet corn has tussled on many farms round about. We
picked blueberries the other day from our favorite blueberry hills, and hope to
get back for more this morning. We planted several fruit trees and several
berry bushes recently. Praise the Lord for the great outdoors.
Praise the Lord for the good earth.
Our church is getting ready for our
annual summer Fish Fry. This will be held this coming Sunday after
the morning worship. Our friends Ron and Barb Barnes are hosting this
Holy Event.
As
I have been reflecting and praying this morning, I have been thinking about how
so many of us have been battling with illness, pain, or suffering. In her
book Tramp for the Lord,
Corrie ten Boom tells the story of an old woman she met in Russia in the time
of the Communist persecution of Christians during the Cold War. The old
woman was lying on a small sofa propped up by pillows. Her body was bent
and twisted almost beyond recognition by the dread disease multiple sclerosis.
Her aged husband spent all his time caring for her since she was unable to move
off the sofa … [The only part of her body she could control was her right hand,
and with the index finger of that hand she had for many years glorified God by
typing on a vintage typewriter beside her.] All day and far into the
night, she would type. [She translated Christian books into
Russian.] Always using just that one finger—peck … peck … peck—she typed
out the pages of portions of the Bible, the books of Billy Graham … and Corrie
ten Boom … "Not only does she translate books," her husband said as
he hovered close by during our conversation, "but she prays for these
[people] every day while she types. Sometimes it takes a long time for
her finger to hit the key, or for her to get the paper in the machine, but
all the time she's praying for those whose books she's working on."
[Corrie ten Boom writes]: I looked at her wasted form on the sofa, her
head pulled down and her feet curled under her body. "Oh Lord, why
don't you heal her?" I cried inwardly. Her husband, sensing my
anguish of soul, gave the answer. "God has a purpose in her
sickness. Every other Christian in the city is watched by the secret
police. But because she has been sick so long, no one ever looks in on
her. They leave us alone and she is the only person in all the city who
can type quietly undetected by the police."
One day Corrie received a letter from
that lady's husband that described the day she had gone home to be with the
Lord. The husband explained that the woman had worked until midnight that
very night of her death, typing with one finger to the glory of God. Who
would have thought that multiple sclerosis could be a gift from
God?
Has it ever occurred to us
that the very thing we most want removed from our life might
be the very thing God uses in the greatest way for his glory? That was
certainly the case in the life of the apostle Paul. What he tells us in 2
Corinthians 12 is that every believer should glory in his weaknesses far more
than in his strengths, because it is in our weaknesses that Christ is most
clearly revealed. Glorying in our weaknesses
distinguishes us from the world. Have you ever noticed how unlike the world
Christianity is? The world wants to get to the top but Jesus tells us we
are to be servants of all. The world loves power, but God is made
perfect in weakness. The world seeks after wisdom, but God has
called us through the foolishness of preaching to proclaim the gospel.
Paul had beaten, stoned, and shipwrecked, and, by the end of his life
he must have been scarred, bent, and twisted.
What distinguishes us from the world is not
our gifts, strength, power, or intellect. We can never argue the world
into accepting Jesus Christ. We can never be so impressive that the world
will accept Jesus based on our say-so. Rather, Paul says that Christ's
strength is made perfect in our weakness. If we are going to
distinguish ourselves from the world, we had best embrace our weakness. Glorying
in our weaknesses distances us from our strengths.
I read about David Miller, a preacher of
the gospel and an incredible man. He has muscular atrophy, and this
degenerative disease has slowly taken his muscle control. His family has
had to endure a great deal, but David has been faithful. He is never heard to
gripe or complain about his illness, and he preaches as many meetings every
year as any evangelist in the country. David and his wife, Glenda, have a
son named Josh, their only child, of whom they are very proud. One
day Josh Miller was riding in a car with a friend, and they had an accident in
which he broke his spine at the C-5 level and was paralyzed. David, who
has endured physical weakness for many, many years, found the strength to
encourage, love, and comfort his son with the love of the Lord Jesus Christ and
speak to him of the graciousness of God. That's what it means to display
the power of Christ.
In Christ,
Brown
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