God's Purpose for Us

This is from Charles Spurgeon's Gems #8

God's Purpose for Us

[There is not a spider hanging on the wall that doesn't have a purpose; there is not a weed growing in the corner of the church lot that doesn't have a reason for being there; there is not a single insect fluttering in the breeze that does not accomplish some divine decree; and I will never believe that God created any man or woman, especially any Christian man or woman, to be a blank, and to be a nothing. He made you for a purpose. Find out what that purpose is; find out your niche, and fill it. Even if it is something small, if it is only to be someone who picks up trash at the side of the road, or one who mows the church lawn, do something in this great battle for God and truth.]

Isn't that an amazing thought when we think how even the smallest insect has a purpose. I always like the quote, "God does not create anything without a purpose, but mosquito's come close"! I truly believe so many of us are crying out, "What is my purpose Lord"? We see larger than life evangelists preaching God's Word and Charles Spurgeon states that the person picking up trash along side the road can feel they are fulfilling God's purpose? Yep, they can. See that is God's road so He wants it to be beautiful as it brings glory to Him.

As humans we are always competing for something. Our reasoning is that it is better to be ahead of someone else. Why? When it is all said and done God is the only One. See I believe as humans we reason, or try too, everything out. The insects just do their thing. Just think, if it is a hot sunny day and you are being plagued by a lot of mosquitoes, maybe God instructed them to bother you because you were in the sun too long. Probably if you are like most you would grab some repellent and keep doing your own thing. Then 30+ years later ask God, "Why did You give this skin cancer to me"? Interesting thought isn't it?

How about all those weeds that come back year after year. Do we thank God for the exercises He gave us by picking them out of His yard? Yep, it's all His my friends! No, probably we go and pay for the weed exterminator to come and spray all those chemicals on the lawn. Of course when our dog gets sick we are asking God, "Why did You let that happen to our beloved pet"!

What I have found, but it took 50+ years to understand, I am here for God's purpose. It is not the other way around.

How can I serve You today Lord? That is purpose!

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

Are you shirking your Christian duties?

“I will praise thee, O Lord.”

Psalm 9:1 (A psalm by David for the music leader. To the tune "The Death of the Son.") I will praise you, LORD, with all my heart and tell about the wonders you have worked.

Have you given praise to Him that let you awake this morning? That in itself is answer to prayer. As your feet hit the floor from a good nights rest, did you Praise Him for the good nights rest? My friends I have seen people without feet also. One woman that the God's Love Outreach Ministry ministers to has lost both feet and she is always telling me how awesome God is. Did you praise Him yet today? Read how Charles Spurgeon describes why as Christians we should be praising our Lord and Savior.

[Praise should always follow answered prayer; as the mist of earth’s gratitude rises when the sun of heaven’s love warms the ground. Hath the Lord been gracious to thee, and inclined his ear to the voice of thy supplication? Then praise him as long as thou livest. Let the ripe fruit drop upon the fertile soil from which it drew its life. Deny not a song to him who hath answered thy prayer and given thee the desire of thy heart. To be silent over God’s mercies is to incur the guilt of ingratitude; it is to act as basely as the nine lepers, who after they had been cured of their leprosy, returned not to give thanks unto the healing Lord.]

As I think about those lepers that being healed from one of the most worst disease and not even to say thanks to Jesus for His grace to do that. My heart saddens just to read about it. Again my question to all, did you say thanks at all today?

[To forget to praise God is to refuse to benefit ourselves; for praise, like prayer, is one great means of promoting the growth of the spiritual life. It helps to remove our burdens, to excite our hope, to increase our faith. It is a healthful and invigorating exercise which quickens the pulse of the believer, and nerves him for fresh enterprises in his Master’s service.]

As I read this part of the devotional I was being uplifted by the words "remove our burdens, to excite our hope, to increase our faith", Charles Spuregon is right on again, well for me anyways. I am glad to be ready for fresh enterprises for Christ. Yes Lord, quicken my pluse as I sing praise to You!

[To bless God for mercies received is also the way to benefit our fellow-men; “the humble shall hear thereof and be glad.” Others who have been in like circumstances shall take comfort if we can say, “Oh! magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together; this poor man cried, and the Lord heard him.” Weak hearts will be strengthened, and drooping saints will be revived as they listen to our “songs of deliverance.” Their doubts and fears will be rebuked, as we teach and admonish one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. They too shall “sing in the ways of the Lord,” when they hear us magnify his holy name. Praise is the most heavenly of Christian duties. The angels pray not, but they cease not to praise both day and night; and the redeemed, clothed in white robes, with palm-branches in their hands, are never weary of singing the new song, “Worthy is the Lamb.”]

Are you feeling like a weak heart? Fellow saint are you drooping today? Sing with Charles and I as we give praise to our Father in Heaven, that by His grace sent His "only begotten Son" to be the lamb sacrificed for our salvation.

Worthy is the Lamb
by Hillsong

Thank you for the cross, Lord
Thank you for the price You paid
Bearing all my sin and shame
In love You came
And gave amazing grace

Thank you for this love, Lord
Thank you for the nail pierced hands
Washed me in Your cleansing flow
Now all I know
Your forgiveness and embrace

Worthy is the Lamb
Seated on the throne
Crown You now with many crowns
You reign victorious

High and lifted up
Jesus Son of God
The Darling of Heaven crucified
Worthy is the Lamb
Worthy is the Lamb

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

As He Looks Into My Heart

Did you know I wrote a few songs? This one I wrote back in October 2004. If you are music knowledgeable then I have also included the notes to the song that I picked at with my guitar when the Lord was blessing me with this.

E---F----G-------G-A---F#--G
As He looked into my heart

E---F---G--------G---A------G----F
Jesus smiled at what He saw

F---G---A-----A----B---------A--G
All the dark had turned to light

F#--G---A---A--G-----F#---G
all the bitterness now gone

How true and important this first part of the song is. It is for sure I know Jesus is pleased and smiling for what He see's in my heart. Even though I was saved as a teenager I must admit many days of darkness surrounded my life. That my friends, is the darkness because of sin. See because of the light of Jesus in my life, all this dark bitterness was removed.

E--F---G--------G-A---F#----G
As He looks into my heart

G-----A------B---C----D
He now understands

F--G--A-----B---C---D
I believe in His love

A----B---D----D-----D--C---D
and the wonders of His hands

Yes, Jesus now understands because I have opened my heart up to Him. My friends it was my choice, just as it is yours. I truly believe in His love and the miracles of His nail pierced loving hands. How do I know? The Bible tells me so, another good song.

E-----G--G---A-----F-----F#--G
The selfishness that was there

E-----F--G---------A-----G---F
now replaced with His love

F---G---A--A---B----A--G
All the anger and dispair

F#----G-A-----A---B---C--------D
now erased by Calvary's blood

Without Christ in your life, you will be selfish. See Jesus has removed all the selfishness, anger and dispair and replaced by His love as shown on Calvary. Psalm 23:4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.


E----G--G-------G----A------F#---G
For nothing was there for me

E-----F----G-----A-----G----F
like His love from the start

F-----A-----A---B--A-----G
and this my Savior sees

F#---G--A------A-B--C---D
As He looks into my heart

Nothing is truly complete emptyness and how many of us walk through this life feeling this way. Many may try to say "not me", but that usually means they have found something else to replace that longing for His love that was been embeded into our souls at birth. Jesus knows this is calling to each of us constantly as stated in the Bible verse Revelation 3:20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him and he with Me.

What does Jesus see as He looks into your heart?

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

Leap for joy my heart!

This is an excerpt from Charles Spurgeon morning devotional.

“His oath, his covenant, his blood,
Support me in the raging flood;
When every earthly prop gives way,
This still is all my strength and stay.”

[If Jesus undertook to bring me to glory, and if the Father promised that he would give me to the Son to be a part of the infinite reward of the travail of his soul; then, my soul, till God himself shall be unfaithful, till Jesus shall cease to be the truth, thou art safe. When David danced before the ark, he told Michal that election made him do so. Come, my soul, exult before the God of grace and leap for joy of heart.]

In this excerpt I really find an excellent way to present to God's wounded, an answer to give them strength and staying power as they find many obstacles in their path. Sometimes I find myself asking, myself, "how do they do it?" "With so much challenging them each day, how do they do it?" Of course the easy way is to just give up, but that is not the true Christian way. With Jesus' oath, His covenant, and His blood, that was shed for us, that is all we need for strength and to stay on this earthly path.

Today because of the touch of a cold or flu I decided to cancel my last two programs for this month. As much as I love being a messenger for God, I also know that, His wounded children and hopefully His soon to be children of His, do not need any more challenges to be facing them.

Last night when I was presenting a program, I felt a lot better than I do today, a woman was singing along to all the older hymns. She told me, "I don't know how I could get through each day without my Jesus"! She also told me she wants to start a Bible Study in the home but she is not a teacher. See she understands as Charles Spurgeon wrote above, until God Himself becomes unfaithful and Jesus shall cease to be the truth, her soul is safe! By the way God will always be faithful, Joshua 1:5 No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not fail you nor forsake you. and Jesus will always be the truth, John 14:6 Jesus said to him, I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no one comes to the Father but by Me.

Praise God!

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

Christians love being Christians!

“The trees of the Lord are full of sap.”
- Psalm_104:16

Today when I did a morning program at Seneca Manor I was excited to watch a woman in the front row praising God as the Seeds of Tradition program was ministering to her. Although she is confined to wheelchair you could tell by her actions that she has a very close relationship with Christ and is not ashamed to show that affection. Presbyterians very seldom show this type of excitement, though I believe it is there in many of us. This woman was raising her hands and looking upward as various hymns were being sung. She and many other residents were singing along to "I love to Tell the Story, Old Rugged Cross, Rock of Ages" and many more.

Please read this excellent devotional by Charles Spurgeon as he wonderfully describes us Christians as being trees for the Lord.

[Without sap the tree cannot flourish or even exist. Vitality is essential to a Christian. There must be life -a vital principle infused into us by God the Holy Ghost, or we cannot be trees of the Lord. The mere name of being a Christian is but a dead thing, we must be filled with the spirit of divine life. This life is mysterious. We do not understand the circulation of the sap, by what force it rises, and by what power it descends again. So the life within us is a sacred mystery. Regeneration is wrought by the Holy Ghost entering into man and becoming man’s life; and this divine life in a believer afterwards feeds upon the flesh and blood of Christ and is thus sustained by divine food, but whence it cometh and whither it goeth who shall explain to us? What a secret thing the sap is! The roots go searching through the soil with their little spongioles, but we cannot see them suck out the various gases, or transmute the mineral into the vegetable; this work is done down in the dark. Our root is Christ Jesus, and our life is hid in him; this is the secret of the Lord. The radix of the Christian life is as secret as the life itself. How permanently active is the sap in the cedar! In the Christian the divine life is always full of energy-not always in fruit- bearing, but in inward operations. The believer’s graces, are not every one of them in constant motion? but his life never ceases to palpitate within. He is not always working for God, but his heart is always living upon him. As the sap manifests itself in producing the foliage and fruit of the tree, so with a truly healthy Christian, his grace is externally manifested in his walk and conversation. If you talk with him, he cannot help speaking about Jesus. If you notice his actions you will see that he has been with Jesus. He has so much sap within, that it must fill his conduct and conversation with life.]

This woman today I truly know has been and will always be, with Jesus. When I visited with her she said to me, "I love Him so!" I told her, "So do I!"

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

You tell em Charles!

Please read these bible verses from the message translation, then read Charles Spurgeon's morning devotional following them.

John 6:51-67 (The Message)

47-51"I'm telling you the most solemn and sober truth now: Whoever believes in me has real life, eternal life. I am the Bread of Life. Your ancestors ate the manna bread in the desert and died. But now here is Bread that truly comes down out of heaven. Anyone eating this Bread will not die, ever. I am the Bread—living Bread!—who came down out of heaven. Anyone who eats this Bread will live—and forever! The Bread that I present to the world so that it can eat and live is myself, this flesh-and-blood self."

52At this, the Jews started fighting among themselves: "How can this man serve up his flesh for a meal?"

53-58But Jesus didn't give an inch. "Only insofar as you eat and drink flesh and blood, the flesh and blood of the Son of Man, do you have life within you. The one who brings a hearty appetite to this eating and drinking has eternal life and will be fit and ready for the Final Day. My flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. By eating my flesh and drinking my blood you enter into me and I into you. In the same way that the fully alive Father sent me here and I live because of him, so the one who makes a meal of me lives because of me. This is the Bread from heaven. Your ancestors ate bread and later died. Whoever eats this Bread will live always."

59He said these things while teaching in the meeting place in Capernaum.

Too Tough to Swallow

60Many among his disciples heard this and said, "This is tough teaching, too tough to swallow."
61-65Jesus sensed that his disciples were having a hard time with this and said, "Does this throw you completely? What would happen if you saw the Son of Man ascending to where he came from? The Spirit can make life. Sheer muscle and willpower don't make anything happen. Every word I've spoken to you is a Spirit-word, and so it is life-making. But some of you are resisting, refusing to have any part in this." (Jesus knew from the start that some weren't going to risk themselves with him. He knew also who would betray him.) He went on to say, "This is why I told you earlier that no one is capable of coming to me on his own. You get to me only as a gift from the Father."

66-67After this a lot of his disciples left. They no longer wanted to be associated with him. Then Jesus gave the Twelve their chance: "Do you also want to leave?"

[Many have forsaken Christ, and have walked no more with him; but what reason have YOU to make a change? Has there been any reason for it in the past? Has not Jesus proved himself all-sufficient? He appeals to you this morning-”Have I been a wilderness unto you?” When your soul has simply trusted Jesus, have you ever been confounded? Have you not up till now found your Lord to be a compassionate and generous friend to you, and has not simple faith in him given you all the peace your spirit could desire? Can you so much as dream of a better friend than he has been to you? Then change not the old and tried for new and false. As for the present, can that compel you to leave Christ? When we are hard beset with this world, or with the severer trials within the Church, we find it a most blessed thing to pillow our head upon the bosom of our Saviour. This is the joy we have to-day that we are saved in him; and if this joy be satisfying, wherefore should we think of changing? Who barters gold for dross? We will not forswear the sun till we find a better light, nor leave our Lord until a brighter lover shall appear; and, since this can never be, we will hold him with a grasp immortal, and bind his name as a seal upon our arm. As for the future, can you suggest anything which can arise that shall render it necessary for you to mutiny, or desert the old flag to serve under another captain? We think not. If life be long-he changes not. If we are poor, what better than to have Christ who can make us rich? When we are sick, what more do we want than Jesus to make our bed in our sickness? When we die, is it not written that “neither death, nor life, nor things present, nor things to come, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord!” We say with Peter, “Lord, to whom shall we go?”]

I don't know about anyone else but my heart sank to think my Lord would ask me if I wanted to leave Him! In verse 66 it stated a lot of His disciples left Him. Charles Spurgeon said it like it was, and today like it is. As he was asking the questions about Jesus I found myself answering to Charles, yes. All-sufficient? Yes! Compassionate, generous friend? Yes! All the peace my spirit could desire? Yes! Just think we get all this as a gift, for verse 65 it is written "You get to me only as a gift from the Father." Praise God!

Yes Jesus loves me, yes, Jesus love me, yes Jesus love me, the Bible tells me so!

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

This is what it is all about!

As I Walked Into Heaven

As I walked into Heaven, I looked around
for a friend I wanted to see.
From a distant I saw this figure
of someone coming closer to me.

There was warmth in the smile
and comfort on this face
which made me feel so at ease
upon entering this place.

Though I never felt worried
or unsure at any time
I was truly hoping
it would be a friend of mine.

So as this figure drew nearer
more light began to shine
my new heart started beating faster
could I really be meeting Jesus, for the first time?

What would I do
or what will I say?
The moment I always dreamt of on earth,
was not that far away.

I wanted to run up
but also wanted to fall to my knees!
Closer and closer the figure came
closer and closer to me.

How would I begin to say
all that has been in my heart?
How do I give thanks for all the love
that was always there right from the start?

Through all the Bible readings
and all the lessons learned,
it is now about to be made known
for which my soul has always yearned.

Praise to You, Lord Jesus
for the price You had paid
for if not for You
there would never be this day.

Peace, love, contentment
and never again to be alone!
I am now with my Savior,
I am now finally home!

E. P. Shagott