My Journey 8/24 - 8/25/2010

God's insight to me:

I loved this devotional because of the story which made me reflect back on the God's Love Outreach Ministry that I have been blessed to be called into. For 7 1/2 years I have met several residents in homes that sound like Gwen. Their lives have changed forever. Nothing is the same for them, family, friends and present surroundings are all different. They now rely on someone to help them get through the day. They are now living in the canyons of their lives, and to many it's a "Grand Canyon". Grand by meaning "big". As in Gwen's life, just ragged rocks. If there would be any green it would be weeds trying to poke through. But then I am also blessed when I meet some that make the best of what they now have. For the majority of these I can see Christ's Spirit living inside them. Though my calling is for the hurting and the lost I find an instant bond with the Christians I am brought into contact with. They are in the canyon but see more Spirit flowers than Gwen. For they have a closer walk with the Master.

I love this next devotional by Charles Spurgeon. I am so glad that God did choose me. My life has been so awesome since we are One. I pray that after reading my latest poem you would agree.

Christ Lives Within Me

Christ lives within me,
our lives are now as One.
He was the One who has chosen me,
ever since the world begun.

Ever since the Garden of Eden,
when He created Brother Adam and Sister Eve,
He knew I would also be special to Him,
all I had to do was just believe.

He is an awesome God,
Who reigns from the Heavens above.
A Father who keeps on giving,
all because of His gracious love.

So if you do not know Him,
but want to love Him like I do.
It all starts with the choice you make,
for He wants to live in you too!!

E. P. Shagott
8/25/2010

From God's heart, to mine, to yours,
Ed Shagott
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August 24

Flowers in the Canyon
from Streams in the Desert devotionals


"For our profit" (Heb. 12:10).

In one of Ralph Connor's books he tells a story of Gwen. Gwen was a wild, wilful lassie and one who had always been accustomed to having her own way. Then one day she met with a terrible accident which crippled her for life. She became very rebellious and in the murmuring state she was visited by the Sky Pilot, as the missionary among the mountaineers was termed.

He told her the parable of the canyon. "At first there were no canyons, but only the broad, open prairie. One day the Master of the Prairie, walking over his great lawns, where were only grasses, asked the Prairie, 'Where are your flowers?' and the Prairie said, 'Master I have no seeds.'

"Then he spoke to the birds, and they carried seeds of every kind of flower and strewed them far and wide, and soon the prairie bloomed with crocuses and roses and buffalo beans and the yellow crowfoot and the wild sunflowers and the red lilies all summer long. Then the Master came and was well pleased; but he missed the flowers he loved best of all, and he said to the Prairie: 'Where are the clematis and the columbine, the sweet violets and wind-flowers, and all the ferns and flowering shrubs?'

"And again he spoke to the birds, and again they carried all the seeds and scattered them far and wide. But, again, when the Master came he could not find the flowers he loved best of all, and he said:

"'Where are those my sweetest flowers?' and the Prairie cried sorrowfully:

"'Oh, Master, I cannot keep the flowers, for the winds sweep fiercely, and the sun beats upon my breast, and they wither up and fly away.'

"Then the Master spoke to the Lightning, and with one swift blow the Lightning cleft the Prairie to the heart. And the Prairie rocked and groaned in agony, and for many a day moaned bitterly over the black, jagged, gaping wound.

"But the river poured its waters through the cleft, and carried down deep black mould, and once more the birds carried seeds and strewed them in the canyon. And after a long time the rough rocks were decked out with soft mosses and trailing vines, and all the nooks were hung with clematis and columbine, and great elms lifted their huge tops high up into the sunlight, and down about their feet clustered the low cedars and balsams, and everywhere the violets and wind-flower and maiden-hair grew and bloomed, till the canyon became the Master's favorite place for rest and peace and joy."

Then the Sky Pilot read to her: "The fruit--I'll read 'flowers'--of the Spirit are love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness--and some of these grow only in the canyon."

"Which are the canyon flowers?" asked Gwen softly, and the Pilot answered: "Gentleness, meekness, longsuffering; but though the others, love, joy, peace, bloom in the open, yet never with so rich a bloom and so sweet a perfume as in the canyon."

For a long time Gwen lay quite still, and then said wistfully, while her lips trembled: "There are no flowers in my canyon, but only ragged rocks."

"Some day they will bloom, Gwen dear; the Master will find them, and we, too, shall see them."

Beloved, when you come to your canyon, remember!

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8/25/2010

God Is Jealous

Originally written by Charles H. Spurgeon. Updated to modern English by Darren Hewer, 2008

“God is jealous.” Nahum 1:2

Your Lord is jealous of your love.

Did He choose you? Then He cannot bear that you would choose another.

Did He purchase you with His own blood? He cannot bear that you would live apart from Him, or that you would belong to this world.

He loved you with such a love that meant He would not stay in heaven without you; He would rather die than see you perish, and He cannot bear that anything should stand between your heart’s love and Himself.

He is jealous of your trust. He will not permit you to trust in any mere human being. He weeps, seeing you cradle a broken jug, when His overflowing fountain is always free to you. When we lean upon Him, He is glad, but when we transfer our dependence to another, relying on our own wisdom, or trusting in any works of our own, He is displeased. He will humble us so that He can bring us closer to Himself.

He is also jealous of our company. We should be in conversation with Jesus more than anyone else. True love is living with Him only; but to live primarily for selfish comforts, or to prefer even our fellow Christians to fellowship with Him, this is too pains our jealous Lord.

He urges us stay close to Him, and enjoy constant fellowship with Himself. Many of the trials which He sends us are to wean our hearts from worldly things, and fixing us more closely on Himself. This jealousy, which He intends to keep us near to Christ, can also be a tremendous comfort to us, because if He cares about us and our love so much, we can be sure that He will do nothing to harm us, and will protect us from our enemies. I pray that we will keep our hearts pure for our beloved Lord alone, with sacred jealousy shutting our eyes to all the distractions of the world!