JUST LEAVE IT THERE!

I am thinking today of the many struggles we go through as we continue our journey here, with our hearts ever looking toward our heavenly home.  Meanwhile, the path is steep, there are storms coming across our path, our bodies tremble with fear as the lightning flashes around us.  But we continue pressing ever onward and upward toward our heavenly prize.

I was reminded of an old hymn this morning in my prayer time.  The Lord often brings back to my memory hymns that I have not heard sung in many years.  A person only finds them in the old hymn books.  One such song is “Leave It There.”  The praise songs we sing are lovely, but something is missing when we don’t hear the words to these wonderful old hymns which so wonderfully speak to our hearts, inspiring one’s faith.

 LEAVE IT THERE

If the world from you withhold of its silver and its gold, and you have to get along with meager fare, just remember, in His Word, how He feeds the little bird; take your burden to the Lord and leave it there.

Leave it there, leave it there; take your burden to the Lord and leave it there; if you trust and never doubt, He will surely bring you out; take your burden to the Lord and leave it there.

If your body suffers pain and your health you can’t regain, and your soul is almost sinking in despair, Jesus knows the pain you feel, He can save and He can heal; take your burden to the Lord and leave it there.

When your enemies assail and your heart begins to fail, don’t forget that God in heaven answers prayer; He will make a way for you and will lead you safely thro’; take your burden to the Lord and leave it there

When your youthful days are gone and old age is stealing on, and your body bends beneath the weight of care; He will never leave you then, He’ll go with you to the end; take your burden to the Lord and leave it there.

Charles A. Tindley (1851-1933)

We are living in hard times for our nation and our world.  Financially many are losing their homes and their employment, many are hungry.  Some may not know where the next meal is coming from.  Are you one of those, my friend?  Sometimes you hardly have enough money left to feed your family and you are in deep despair.  Remember in His Word, He does promise to feed the little birds: “Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly father feeds them.  Are you not of more value than they?”   Matthew 6:26.  He says that you, my friend, are more valuable than many birds, He loves you so much.  Just take your burden to the Lord, kneel at the cross, where all our needs are met, and just leave it with Him.  He hears every cry of your heart, my friend.

I have a loved one whose husband is fighting cancer, and she is sinking in despair.  She thought the battle had been won in his battle against cancer, and now it has come back in another area.  We serve a Mighty God, and He knows the pain she feels and others that I know of who have loved ones battling cancer.  I know of another family who lost a son earlier this year from cancer and now another son is battling cancer.  But Jesus knows the pain, and He does save and heal, as the song says.  So as I shared with my loved one, “we can’t lose hope in this battle.  Our God is bigger than any cancer or any health problem that may come.  We just have to take it to the Lord and leave it there.  I know it is hard to do that, but with His help, we can have peace in these times and just know in our hearts that everything is under His control, even though the path ahead looks dark.  He will guide our way through these storms and there He is waiting with open arms.

And sometimes, you find it hard to face the battle, and your heart wants to faint with fear, but God in heaven hears and answers prayer.  “When the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD will lift up a standard against him” Isaiah 59:19b.  When the enemy comes against you with defeat, fear, and discouragement, just remember that the LORD has gone out ahead of you and the enemy will be defeated, Praise the Lord!  Just get alone with God and praise Him, thank Him for the victory, and then wait and see what our Mighty God will do.

And many of us are feeling the effects of old age coming on.  Some of us don’t hear too well any more.  Some of us have aches and pains in our bodies, and we can’t do the things we used to do any longer.  It is harder to get up and down sometimes, and we just don’t move as fast as we once did.  Someone once said that “our get up and go has got up and left.”  But I know my Lord will never leave me, and He will go with me through the valley, and right on into my heavenly home, where I will never grow old!  So when you are slowing down, have days of discouragement, days of pain, just take it to Jesus, and leave it there.

“Nevertheless I am continually with You; You hold me by my right hand.  You will guide me with Your counsel and afterward receive me to glory.  Whom have I in heaven but You?  And there is none upon earth that I desire besides You.  My flesh and my heart fail; but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever” Psalm 73:23-26.

In Jesus’ Name,
Pastor Sharon

 

OUR JOURNEY HOME

Our journey home is not just about our journey through the sky, on our way to our earthly home, but about our journey as pilgrims here, as we struggle on through life, walking with Jesus, and keeping our eyes on our heavenly home just ahead.  We walk by faith just as Abraham of old walked on seeking a better city to come. “But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country.  Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them” Hebrews 11:16. (NKJV)

As we continued our journey through the skies on our way home, suddenly there were obstacles in our way.  This journey we walk with the Lord also may be filled with obstacles in our pathway toward our destination.  Many things come into our lives to bring discouragement and fear.  When the burdens are so heavy and our eyes are blinded by tears, we can hardly see the way ahead of us.  Are you in that place in your journey “home?”

“Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” Hebrews 12:1-2 (NKJV  This journey is like a race, all of us running to compete for the heavenly prize, Philippians 3:14.  In this chapter of Hebrews we see the great heroes of the faith and the race they ran, and we are surrounded by their witness.  So the writer of Hebrews tells us to put aside the heavy burdens and any sin that would hinder us and run on with endurance in this race.  How do we do that?  We do that by looking up into the face of Jesus, who was the author and finisher of our faith.  He went to the cross and He could look ahead to the joy that His sacrifice would bring.  And then He sat down, the work finished, at the right hand of His Father, Praise the Lord!

Now, as my husband and I looked toward our early home, and sat out on the runway of the plane leaving Philadelphia, suddenly an announcement was made that there was an earthquake in the eastern cities, and all flights were temporarily grounded.  So there we sat, not knowing the extent of that earthquake and if we would even make our connection for our next flight out in Atlanta, Georgia. And we wondered about family that we had just visited, and we began to feel concern of not knowing what was going on outside the plane.

“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.  Therefore we will not fear, even though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; though its waters roar and be troubled, through the mountains shake with its swelling”
Psalm 46:1-3 On this journey “home” God is our only refuge and strength.  And God’s Word says we are not to fear even when we hear of big earthquakes in our world, oceans roaring causing great hurricanes.  So when the “quakes” of trouble come, and great storms come and our world seems to crumble around us, our Lord is a “very present” help in all our struggles.  He promises to “never leave us or forsake us” (Hebrews 13:5b), even when we “quake” with fear and heavy heart.

We finally our on our way again, landing in Atlanta, Georgia, and literally running for our gate, and finding our seats, and our plane taxies out to the runway ready to take off.  Then another announcement!  This one tells us that there is engine trouble, and to be patient while the plane is being repaired.  So again, we are left wondering and waiting, out on the runway, if we will even make our next connection out of Los Angeles, California to arrive at home.

We waited three very long hours, all of us on that plane.  And I am sure there we many who were fearful of not making connecting flights, what would they do?    Finally, the plane is repaired and we are on our way, but when we arrived in Los Angeles, we had missed the flight home.  We were so very tired, felt lost, couldn’t seem to find anyone who could give us answers to what we should do.  We finally found some help and were put in a hotel for the night and made connections the next morning to our final destination, and we arrived home at last!

How are your connections to your heavenly home?  Even though we may miss earthly connections, it is so important to make sure our heavenly connections are secure, by knowing Jesus Christ as our own personal Lord and Savior.  But we have a blessed hope, and we know that our journey to our heavenly home will be right on the Lord’s timetable, and when we know Jesus, there won’t be any delays.  And we won’t have to run to catch our “flight home. God’s  Word promises a safe and blessed journey.  If we die before Jesus comes in the clouds, we go instantly into the presence of the Lord: “For we walk by faith, not by sight.  We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and present with the Lord” II Corinthians 5:7-8.

Think of that, my friends, instantly with Jesus, safe in His loving arms!  And there is the hope that we will be in the generation that meets the Lord in the air!  And what a way that will be to journey to our heavenly home!  “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God.  And the dead in Christ will rise first.  Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.  And thus we shall always be with the Lord.  Therefore comfort one another with these words” I Thessalonians 4:16-18.

Thus, our earthly journey will be completed, and we have run the race, and home with the Lord! I do pray that on your journey, your ticket to heaven is secure, and you have your eyes looking ahead to your eternal reward with our Blessed Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!

Blessings,

Pastor Sharon

WHAT DO I SEE

FROM UP HERE

Part Two

As we continued our flight across the country and back, watching out the airplane window, not only did I observe the clouds drifting across the sky and the great thunderheads forming in the distance, but I saw below the floating clouds, cities, roads, rivers, green fields.  I saw large cities and small towns.  From up here they look like small toys.  When flying at night, I observed the twinkling lights of great cities, such as Los Angeles and Los Angeles, County.

I began to think about the millions of people down there and across our country.  The people down there were going about their business and their daily lives, with all their heartache and struggles, unmindful of the jet above the clouds, and someone looking down on their world.  But God looks down on their world, as He is the “God Who Sees.”  The Bible calls Him EL ROI.  (Genesis 16:13-14)

 The LORD looks down from heaven;

He sees all humankind.

From where He sits enthroned He watches

All the inhabitants of the earth,

He who fashions the hearts of them all,

And observes their deeds . . .

Truly the eye of the LORD is on those who fear Him,

On those who hope in His steadfast love,

To deliver their soul from death,

And to keep them alive in famine.

Psalm 33:13-15, 18-19 (NSRV)

My heart was moved, as I was reminded also that My Savior died for each and every one down there.  He died for every man, woman and child, no matter what the circumstance of their lives, or where they lived, or in what condition they found themselves in.  My Savior died on that cross, suffering in agony, for them, for this world.

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosover believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.  For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but the world through Him might be saved” John 3:16-17.

I was also mindful that down there, under those clouds, and behind those twinkling lights, were people in pain, people in grief.  I am sure there were people at gravesites of a beloved loved one, and wondering “why?”  There were people at bedsides in hospitals and nursing homes, or in hospice situations, watching a loved one slip away.  There were people in dire circumstances, victims of abuse, wounded people without hope.  In this country, there are churches on “every corner” it seems.  Yet I have known people and heard stories of people who didn’t know who Jesus was.

I worked with a lady once who only knew the name “Jesus,” as a swear word.  She had never heard the gospel story of Jesus and no one in her family had ever been Christians as far as she knew.  I had a wonderful chance to tell her about the Living Lord Jesus who loved her.  I heard a story recently from a speaker who shared that he and his wife had befriended a young lady at Christmas time, and she had never heard the story of Jesus’ birth nor anything about Him.  They had the wonderful privilege of leading her to Jesus.  I wonder how many more are out there in this country, who have never heard about Jesus?  It breaks my heart, as Jesus loves them so much.

Are you one of those hurting ones today?  Do you know Jesus Christ as your personal Savior?  Do you feel empty and lost inside.  Jesus came to die just for you and to give you eternal life in Heaven with Him and He desires a living personal relationship with you.  He is waiting with open arms to receive you.  All you have to do is ask Him to come into your heart and forgive your sins.

But what does it say?  “The word is near you, in your mouth in in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach):  that 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 saved.  For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.  For whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.  Romans 10:9-10, 13.

If you love Jesus, but find yourself in difficult situations, with seemingly no end in site on the path just ahead, look up, my friend, there is Jesus, with open arms waiting to just enfold you in His arms, arms of comfort and peace. “Come unto Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” Matthew 11:28-30.

A yoke is a heavy wooden harness that fits over the shoulders of an ox or oxen.  It is attached to the equipment the oxen will pull.  You may be carrying a heavy burden of sin, depression, grief, weariness, anger.  Jesus came to free of those burdens.  Jesus’ rest is love, healing and peace with God.  If you give your life to Jesus, you partner with Jesus in a shared yoke.  The weight of that yoke is falling on bigger shoulders than yours.  So let Him heal you, let Him give you His peace, let Jesus share the yoke with you.

I observed much more from high in the sky, much of which God is still revealing to me through His Word, and I will continue on sharing my thoughts on the world below the clouds.  And oh, the awesome picture of the sun setting above the clouds!

“The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you; The LORD lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace”  Numbers 6:24-26.

In His Name,

Pastor Sharon

WHAT DO I SEE

FROM UP HERE?

Part 1

We arrived at our gate on time, and the plane left right on schedule and now we are flying east at about 32,000 feet in the air.  The plane is full and the cabin is calm.  Some people are reading, some are sleeping and some are playing with their “electronic” toys.

 I am fortunate this time to have a window seat, my window to the world up above the clouds.  I have my camera handy to catch pictures of God’s amazing handiwork.  As I gaze out the window I notice the clouds.  And at this moment they look like cotton balls rolled across the heavens.  Off in the distance, especially as we neared our destination there are huge thunderhead clouds.  There are light clouds floating above the cities and towns.

Then I am reminded that Jesus said that He was coming with clouds (Matthew 24:30, Revelation 1:7).  I wonder what it would be like to be raptured from up here.   We could literally “meet Him in the air.”

“For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God.  And the dead in Christ will rise first.  Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.  And thus we shall always be with the Lord.  Therefore comfort one another with these words” I Thessalonians 4:16-18.

I also remember in the Old Testament, and the Children of Israel, how God appeared in a cloud by day and fire by night.  And when the Temple was completed in the days of Solomon, how the cloud filled the temple, simply amazing!

Oh, how majestic is our God!  Our minds do not comprehend how awesome He really is.  And being up here in the clouds one can just get a glimpse of his handiwork, His marvelous creation.  Only He could create those awesome clouds, those thunderhead clouds forming in the distance.

“Behold, God is great, and we do not know Him; nor can the number of His years be discovered.  For He draws up drops of water, which distill as rain from the midst, which the clouds drop down and pour abundantly on man.  Indeed, can anyone understand the spreading of clouds, and thunder from His canopy?  Look, He scatters His light upon it and covers the depths of the sea” Job 36:28-30.

What a marvelous portion of Scripture!  How can we ever understand the rain, the thunder, and how He spreads out those clouds, and sometimes the clouds were dark and the light was seen behind them.  I remember as we traveled home, traveling west and it was dark as we traveled but one could see the golden light across the horizon as we neared the west coast.  And we cannot understand the thunder that booms and the lightening which streaks across the sky, as we saw those great and mighty thunderhead clouds.

“At this also my heart trembles, and leaps from its place.  Hear attentively the thunder of His voice, and the rumbling that comes from His mouth.  He sends it forth under the whole heaven, His lightning to the ends of the earth.  After it a voice roars; He thunders with His majestic voice, and He does not restrain them when His voice is heard” Job 37:1-5.

When visiting our daughter, we observed the lightening as it lit up the sky and we heard the thunder roll, and then the rain and the wind came.  It was an awesome display of God’s power, and it was indeed as if His voice was thundering across the sky.  We were in awe, as we don’t often see this kind of storm in the area where we live. 

And yes, our hearts do pound as we see God’s mighty power displayed.  Next time you are in such a storm, listen to God’s majestic voice and bow in Praise to our Mighty God!

“The heavens tell the glory of God.  The skies display His marvelous craftsmanship.  Day after day they continue to speak; night after night they make Him known.  They speak without a sound or a word; their voice is silent in the skies; yet their message has gone out to all the earth, and their words to all the world” Psalm 19:1-4

God’s mighty creation speaks to the end of the earth, and the stars make Him known at night.  Everywhere, in all the world, His mighty creation is seen.  Paul tells us in Romans 1, that man is without excuse, because God’s creation is seen.

So how can one not look at the sky, or fly above the clouds, and look down on God’s mighty creation, and not know or want to know Him?  And when flying at night, I observed the stars and they seemed so close.  At one point, there was a full moon in the sky and it was partially covered by clouds, amazing!

Do you know Him, my friend?  Have you once known Him and drifted away in your walk with the Lord?  Go outside on a cloudy day and look up at the heavens and observe the clouds.  Observe them after a rainstorm, or when the sun is going down.  Go outside at night and observe the stars.  And if you are flying, see if you can sit in a window seat and look out over the clouds and see our Mighty God at work and feel His Mighty presence and His love.  God Bless you!

In His Name,

Pastor Sharon