I truly feel adjusted in my life now. Christ has changed me! I like the word "adjusted" better than perfect, for I have a long way to go to come close to that. But adjusted, yes, that I feel now. It is easy to be adjusted, for once Jesus is in control, the fruits of the Spirit flow within you, as written in Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is: love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith, Galatians 5:23 meekness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And what is also so important is what is written in Galatians 5:25-26 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not become glory-seeking, provoking one another, envying one another.
So as I read this devotional it brought to mind that though Christ my life is now adjusted to His, for He is my life-work now.
"Make you perfect in every good work" (Heb. xiii. 21).
[A devotional by A. B. Simpson]
[In that beautiful prayer at the close of the Epistle to the Hebrews, "Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead, our Lord Jesus Christ, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do His will," the phrase, "make you perfect in every good work," literally means, it is said, "adjust you in every good work." It is a great thing to be adjusted, adjusted to our surroundings and circumstances rather than trying to have them adjusted to us, adjusted to the people we are thrown with, adjusted to the work God has for us, and not trying to get God to help us to do our work; adjusted to do the very will and plan of God for us in our whole life. This is the secret of rest, power and freedom in our life-work.
"Oh, fill me with Thy fulness, Lord.
Until my very heart o'erflow
In kindling thought and glowing word,
Thy love to tell, Thy praise to show.
Oh, use me, Lord, use even me,
Just as Thou wilt, and when, and where;
Until Thy blessed face I see,
Thy rest, Thy joy, Thy glory share."]
God's Tool Chest
God has a special tool chest,
that He uses from up above.
Each tool of His is special,
designed through His wonderful love.
Each tool has a name,
the same given to you and me.
Each one has a special purpose,
to accomplish His will, obediently.
Each earthly tool has a mission
and how important it is.
We were created to complete God's work,
because all the glory is His.
So thank You Lord for choosing me,
and may all others see it too,
just how important it is to be
a divine, living tool for You!
E. P. Shagott
2/26/10
From God's heart, to mine, to yours,
Ed Shagott
Friday, February 26, 2010
Monday, February 22, 2010
Waiting for a miracle
Yesterday my wife heard that her father had passed away from a heart attack. As I read this devotional today I was thinking that as his health was declining several months ago that she was probably waiting for a miracle. Then I thought, could God given her a miracle? Sure, for Jesus is in the miracle business. I remember in December last year shortly before Christmas she got the news that her father wasn't doing well. Being 3000+ miles away, she feared she might not get to see him again to say her final goodbye. He passed yesterday almost two months later.
She did get to see him one last time in January to say, "Goodbye Dad!" Was that her miracle?
Please take time to read that last paragraph slowly and understand what the author wrote.
I also wrote a poem for my father-in-law yesterday morning during our Sunday service.
[A devotional by Mrs. Charles Cowman Devotional - Streams in the Desert]
No Miracles
"And the rest, some on boards, some on broken pieces of the ship. And so it came to pass that they escaped all safe to land" (Acts 27:44).
[The marvelous story of Paul's voyage to Rome, with its trials and triumphs, is a fine pattern of the lights and shades of the way of faith all through the story of human life. The remarkable feature of it is the hard and narrow places which we find intermingled with God's most extraordinary interpositions and providences.
It is the common idea that the pathway of faith is strewn with flowers, and that when God interposes in the life of His people, He does it on a scale so grand that He lifts us quite out of the plane of difficulties. The actual fact, however, is that the real experience is quite contrary. The story of the Bible is one of alternate trial and triumph in the case of everyone of the cloud of witnesses from Abel down to the latest martyr.
Paul, more than anyone else, was an example of how much a child of God can suffer without being crushed or broken in spirit. On account of his testifying in Damascus, he was hunted down by persecutors and obliged to fly for his life. but we behold no heavenly chariot transporting the holy apostle amid thunderbolts of flame from the reach of his foes, but "through a window in a basket," was he let down over the walls of Damascus and so escaped their hands. In an old clothes basket, like a bundle of laundry, or groceries, the servant of Jesus Christ was dropped from the window and ignominiously fled from the hate of his foes.
Again we find him left for months in the lonely dungeons; we find him telling of his watchings, his fastings, and his desertion by friends, of his brutal and shameful beatings, and here even after God has promised to deliver him, we see him for days left to toss upon a stormy sea, obliged to stand guard over the treacherous seaman, and at last when the deliverance comes, there is no heavenly galley sailing from the skies to take off the noble prisoner; there is no angel form walking along the waters and stilling the raging breakers; there is no supernatural sign of the transcendent miracle that is being wrought; but one is compelled to seize a spar, another a floating plank, another to climb on a fragment of the wreck, another to strike out and swim for his life.
Here is God's pattern for our own lives. Here is a Gospel of help for people that have to live in this every day world with real and ordinary surroundings, and a thousand practical conditions which have to be met in a thoroughly practical way.
God's promises and God's providences do not lift us out of the plane of common sense and commonplace trial, but it is through these very things that faith is perfected, and that God loves to interweave the golden threads of His love along the warp and woof of our every day experience.--Hard Places in the Way of Faith]
A Frenchman Entered Heaven
A Frenchman entered Heaven today,
Jesus met him at the gate.
He said, Jean, you’re right on time,
I knew you wouldn’t be late.
You’re time on earth was spent very well,
your family loved you so.
I know how hurt they are
to see you finally go.
I know their hurt will subside,
though it will never leave.
Your life on earth is now complete,
now you’re here with Me.
So come on in Jean Petrement,
your family will be right behind.
Eternity waits for everyone,
it’s only separated by time.”
E. P. Shagott
2/21/10
From God's heart, to mine, to yours,
Ed Shagott
She did get to see him one last time in January to say, "Goodbye Dad!" Was that her miracle?
Please take time to read that last paragraph slowly and understand what the author wrote.
I also wrote a poem for my father-in-law yesterday morning during our Sunday service.
[A devotional by Mrs. Charles Cowman Devotional - Streams in the Desert]
No Miracles
"And the rest, some on boards, some on broken pieces of the ship. And so it came to pass that they escaped all safe to land" (Acts 27:44).
[The marvelous story of Paul's voyage to Rome, with its trials and triumphs, is a fine pattern of the lights and shades of the way of faith all through the story of human life. The remarkable feature of it is the hard and narrow places which we find intermingled with God's most extraordinary interpositions and providences.
It is the common idea that the pathway of faith is strewn with flowers, and that when God interposes in the life of His people, He does it on a scale so grand that He lifts us quite out of the plane of difficulties. The actual fact, however, is that the real experience is quite contrary. The story of the Bible is one of alternate trial and triumph in the case of everyone of the cloud of witnesses from Abel down to the latest martyr.
Paul, more than anyone else, was an example of how much a child of God can suffer without being crushed or broken in spirit. On account of his testifying in Damascus, he was hunted down by persecutors and obliged to fly for his life. but we behold no heavenly chariot transporting the holy apostle amid thunderbolts of flame from the reach of his foes, but "through a window in a basket," was he let down over the walls of Damascus and so escaped their hands. In an old clothes basket, like a bundle of laundry, or groceries, the servant of Jesus Christ was dropped from the window and ignominiously fled from the hate of his foes.
Again we find him left for months in the lonely dungeons; we find him telling of his watchings, his fastings, and his desertion by friends, of his brutal and shameful beatings, and here even after God has promised to deliver him, we see him for days left to toss upon a stormy sea, obliged to stand guard over the treacherous seaman, and at last when the deliverance comes, there is no heavenly galley sailing from the skies to take off the noble prisoner; there is no angel form walking along the waters and stilling the raging breakers; there is no supernatural sign of the transcendent miracle that is being wrought; but one is compelled to seize a spar, another a floating plank, another to climb on a fragment of the wreck, another to strike out and swim for his life.
Here is God's pattern for our own lives. Here is a Gospel of help for people that have to live in this every day world with real and ordinary surroundings, and a thousand practical conditions which have to be met in a thoroughly practical way.
God's promises and God's providences do not lift us out of the plane of common sense and commonplace trial, but it is through these very things that faith is perfected, and that God loves to interweave the golden threads of His love along the warp and woof of our every day experience.--Hard Places in the Way of Faith]
A Frenchman Entered Heaven
A Frenchman entered Heaven today,
Jesus met him at the gate.
He said, Jean, you’re right on time,
I knew you wouldn’t be late.
You’re time on earth was spent very well,
your family loved you so.
I know how hurt they are
to see you finally go.
I know their hurt will subside,
though it will never leave.
Your life on earth is now complete,
now you’re here with Me.
So come on in Jean Petrement,
your family will be right behind.
Eternity waits for everyone,
it’s only separated by time.”
E. P. Shagott
2/21/10
From God's heart, to mine, to yours,
Ed Shagott
Friday, February 19, 2010
Just Stay
I received this story via email from a friend this morning. A good message as you start your day. This is definitely a "Heart Print"!
*****************************************
A nurse took the tired, anxious serviceman to the bedside.
"Your son is here," she said to the old man.
She had to repeat the words several times before the patients eyes opened.
Heavily sedated because of the pain of his heart attack, he dimly saw the young uniformed Marine standing outside the oxygen tent. He reached out his hand. The Marine wrapped his toughened fingers around the old man's limp ones, squeezing a message of love and encouragement.
The nurse brought a chair so that the Marine could sit beside the bed. All through the night the young Marine sat there in the poorly lighted ward, holding the old man's hand and offering him words of love and strength. Occasionally, the nurse suggested that the Marine move away and rest awhile.
He refused. Whenever the nurse came into the ward, the Marine was oblivious of her and of the night noises of the hospital - the clanking of the oxygen tank, the laughter of the night staff members exchanging greetings, the cries and moans of the other patients.
Now and then she heard him say a few gentle words. The dying man said nothing, only held tightly to his son all through the night.
Along towards dawn, the old man died. The Marine released the now lifeless hand he had been holding and went to tell the nurse. While she did what she had to do, he waited.
Finally, she returned. She started to offer words of sympathy, but the Marine interrupted her.
"Who was that man?" he asked.
The nurse was startled, "He was your father," she answered.
"No, he wasn't," the Marine replied. "I never saw him before in my life."
"Then why didn't you say something when I took you to him?"
"I knew right away there had been a mistake,
but I also knew he needed his son and his son just wasn't here.
When I realized that he was too sick to tell whether or not I was his son,
knowing how much he needed me, I stayed.
I came here tonight to find a Mr. William Grey. His son was killed in Iraq
today, and I was sent to inform him. What was this gentleman's name?”
The nurse with tears in her eyes answered:
Mr. William Grey.............
The next time someone needs you ... just be there. Stay.
WE ARE NOT HUMAN BEINGS GOING THROUGH A
TEMPORARY SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCE.
WE ARE SPIRITUAL BEINGS GOING THROUGH A
TEMPORARY HUMAN EXPERIENCE.
THIS IS WHAT WE ARE PUT ON THIS EARTH TO DO ANYWAY. RIGHT ?
HAVE A GREAT DAY AND BLESS SOMEONE ELSE IN SOME LITTLE WAY TODAY!
GOD IS SO GOOD.
*****************************************
Please Stay
I was hurting and confused,
lost in every way.
A person came near me
and I said, "Please stay!"
This life is sometimes hard
when you are traveling all alone.
I grabbed onto this persons hand,
and said "I really don't have a home."
A home is filled with laughter,
filled with people that really care,
but when you are alone
it seems so very hard to bear.
So please stay with me just a little while
words of love maybe we can share.
I really need someone to be with me
just someone to show they care.
E. P. Shagott
2/19/10
From God's heart, to mine, to yours,
Ed Shagott
*****************************************
A nurse took the tired, anxious serviceman to the bedside.
"Your son is here," she said to the old man.
She had to repeat the words several times before the patients eyes opened.
Heavily sedated because of the pain of his heart attack, he dimly saw the young uniformed Marine standing outside the oxygen tent. He reached out his hand. The Marine wrapped his toughened fingers around the old man's limp ones, squeezing a message of love and encouragement.
The nurse brought a chair so that the Marine could sit beside the bed. All through the night the young Marine sat there in the poorly lighted ward, holding the old man's hand and offering him words of love and strength. Occasionally, the nurse suggested that the Marine move away and rest awhile.
He refused. Whenever the nurse came into the ward, the Marine was oblivious of her and of the night noises of the hospital - the clanking of the oxygen tank, the laughter of the night staff members exchanging greetings, the cries and moans of the other patients.
Now and then she heard him say a few gentle words. The dying man said nothing, only held tightly to his son all through the night.
Along towards dawn, the old man died. The Marine released the now lifeless hand he had been holding and went to tell the nurse. While she did what she had to do, he waited.
Finally, she returned. She started to offer words of sympathy, but the Marine interrupted her.
"Who was that man?" he asked.
The nurse was startled, "He was your father," she answered.
"No, he wasn't," the Marine replied. "I never saw him before in my life."
"Then why didn't you say something when I took you to him?"
"I knew right away there had been a mistake,
but I also knew he needed his son and his son just wasn't here.
When I realized that he was too sick to tell whether or not I was his son,
knowing how much he needed me, I stayed.
I came here tonight to find a Mr. William Grey. His son was killed in Iraq
today, and I was sent to inform him. What was this gentleman's name?”
The nurse with tears in her eyes answered:
Mr. William Grey.............
The next time someone needs you ... just be there. Stay.
WE ARE NOT HUMAN BEINGS GOING THROUGH A
TEMPORARY SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCE.
WE ARE SPIRITUAL BEINGS GOING THROUGH A
TEMPORARY HUMAN EXPERIENCE.
THIS IS WHAT WE ARE PUT ON THIS EARTH TO DO ANYWAY. RIGHT ?
HAVE A GREAT DAY AND BLESS SOMEONE ELSE IN SOME LITTLE WAY TODAY!
GOD IS SO GOOD.
*****************************************
Please Stay
I was hurting and confused,
lost in every way.
A person came near me
and I said, "Please stay!"
This life is sometimes hard
when you are traveling all alone.
I grabbed onto this persons hand,
and said "I really don't have a home."
A home is filled with laughter,
filled with people that really care,
but when you are alone
it seems so very hard to bear.
So please stay with me just a little while
words of love maybe we can share.
I really need someone to be with me
just someone to show they care.
E. P. Shagott
2/19/10
From God's heart, to mine, to yours,
Ed Shagott
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Trials
Last night, like many nights now, my 13 year old dog "Buddy" has a hard time sleeping through the night. For some unknown reason he starts barking, then stops for a few minutes, then starts barking again. Even now, (4:30 am) as I type this blog, he is sound asleep. So I am wondering if it is because when I am sleeping he does not feel as safe and secure as to when the lights are on and I am sitting up. Maybe he is thinking I am on guard for him? That's a switch. I have noticed that as we get older we start feeling less secure. Maybe it is that way with animals too?
Well, even though I could of used this time sleeping, I thought it would be good to read a few devotionals and a few bible verses. As I read Charles Spurgeon's devotional for this morning there it was in black and white. My lack of sleep tonight is just a small trial the Lord has put upon me. I am truly aware of His grace through trials. Being involved with the God's Love Outreach Ministry I also can see the many trials that so many of "His wounded" in nursing homes are facing daily. It is one thing to go through trials when your body is functioning, but what when it gives out on you? What about when almost every daily action requires someone to help you with it. These are large trials my friends. Enormous ones. My little trial of lack of sleep seems so pitiful compared to theirs. But little or small the one common bond through all our trials is Christ. I am so amazed that when after a program and I am visiting with the residents how they always manage to say "thank you" and also give me a smile. That is God's grace being shared with me.
I pray that whatever your trial might be today, that you thank God for this chance to be closer to Him! Trials do that you know.
“Shew me wherefore thou contendest with me.”
- Job 10:2
[A devotional by Charles Spurgeon]
[Perhaps, O tried soul, the Lord is doing this to develop thy graces. There are some of thy graces which would never be discovered if it were not for thy trials. Dost thou not know that thy faith never looks so grand in summer weather as it does in winter? Love is too often like a glow-worm, showing but little light except it be in the midst of surrounding darkness. Hope itself is like a star-not to be seen in the sunshine of prosperity, and only to be discovered in the night of adversity. Afflictions are often the black foils in which God doth set the jewels of his children’s graces, to make them shine the better. It was but a little while ago that on thy knees thou wast saying, “Lord, I fear I have no faith: let me know that I have faith.” Was not this really, though perhaps unconsciously, praying for trials?-for how canst thou know that thou hast faith until thy faith is exercised? Depend upon it, God often sends us trials that our graces may be discovered, and that we may be certified of their existence. Besides, it is not merely discovery, real growth in grace is the result of sanctified trials. God often takes away our comforts and our privileges in order to make us better Christians. He trains his soldiers, not in tents of ease and luxury, but by turning them out and using them to forced marches and hard service. He makes them ford through streams, and swim through rivers, and climb mountains, and walk many a long mile with heavy knapsacks of sorrow on their backs. Well, Christian, may not this account for the troubles through which thou art passing? Is not the Lord bringing out your graces, and making them grow? Is not this the reason why he is contending with you?
“Trials make the promise sweet;
Trials give new life to prayer;
Trials bring me to his feet,
Lay me low, and keep me there.”]
Trials
With each day
that comes a new,
there are some trials
that seem to come too.
Each trial brings
it's pains and cares,
that sometime seem
too much to bear.
My heart cries out
Lord what can I do?
I need Your help
to get me through.
Then as the trial
begins to fade,
I finally realize
why it was made.
For all my trials
that I am going through,
I find myself
the closest to You!
E. P. Shagott
2/18/10
From God's heart, to mine, to yours,
Ed Shagott
Well, even though I could of used this time sleeping, I thought it would be good to read a few devotionals and a few bible verses. As I read Charles Spurgeon's devotional for this morning there it was in black and white. My lack of sleep tonight is just a small trial the Lord has put upon me. I am truly aware of His grace through trials. Being involved with the God's Love Outreach Ministry I also can see the many trials that so many of "His wounded" in nursing homes are facing daily. It is one thing to go through trials when your body is functioning, but what when it gives out on you? What about when almost every daily action requires someone to help you with it. These are large trials my friends. Enormous ones. My little trial of lack of sleep seems so pitiful compared to theirs. But little or small the one common bond through all our trials is Christ. I am so amazed that when after a program and I am visiting with the residents how they always manage to say "thank you" and also give me a smile. That is God's grace being shared with me.
I pray that whatever your trial might be today, that you thank God for this chance to be closer to Him! Trials do that you know.
“Shew me wherefore thou contendest with me.”
- Job 10:2
[A devotional by Charles Spurgeon]
[Perhaps, O tried soul, the Lord is doing this to develop thy graces. There are some of thy graces which would never be discovered if it were not for thy trials. Dost thou not know that thy faith never looks so grand in summer weather as it does in winter? Love is too often like a glow-worm, showing but little light except it be in the midst of surrounding darkness. Hope itself is like a star-not to be seen in the sunshine of prosperity, and only to be discovered in the night of adversity. Afflictions are often the black foils in which God doth set the jewels of his children’s graces, to make them shine the better. It was but a little while ago that on thy knees thou wast saying, “Lord, I fear I have no faith: let me know that I have faith.” Was not this really, though perhaps unconsciously, praying for trials?-for how canst thou know that thou hast faith until thy faith is exercised? Depend upon it, God often sends us trials that our graces may be discovered, and that we may be certified of their existence. Besides, it is not merely discovery, real growth in grace is the result of sanctified trials. God often takes away our comforts and our privileges in order to make us better Christians. He trains his soldiers, not in tents of ease and luxury, but by turning them out and using them to forced marches and hard service. He makes them ford through streams, and swim through rivers, and climb mountains, and walk many a long mile with heavy knapsacks of sorrow on their backs. Well, Christian, may not this account for the troubles through which thou art passing? Is not the Lord bringing out your graces, and making them grow? Is not this the reason why he is contending with you?
“Trials make the promise sweet;
Trials give new life to prayer;
Trials bring me to his feet,
Lay me low, and keep me there.”]
Trials
With each day
that comes a new,
there are some trials
that seem to come too.
Each trial brings
it's pains and cares,
that sometime seem
too much to bear.
My heart cries out
Lord what can I do?
I need Your help
to get me through.
Then as the trial
begins to fade,
I finally realize
why it was made.
For all my trials
that I am going through,
I find myself
the closest to You!
E. P. Shagott
2/18/10
From God's heart, to mine, to yours,
Ed Shagott
Friday, February 12, 2010
The Key
Did you ever lock yourself out of your house? Sometimes people have even locked themselves out of their cars with the key inside the ignition. You can look through the window and see the key that is needed to open the door but you can't get to it. Well, this devotional to me is speaking of the key. The key of daily living. It is called "the Kingdom of God"! It is His will that matters and once you can grasp that, everything else is there for us. My friends, all I can say is it works for me.
February 12
"But seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you" (Matthew vi. 33).
[A devotional by A. B. Simpson]
[For every heart that is seeking anything from the Lord this is a good watchword. That very thing, or the desire for it, may unconsciously separate you from the Lord, or at least from the singleness of your purpose unto Him. The thing we desire may be a right thing, but we may desire it in a distrusting and selfish spirit. Let us commit it to Him, and not cease to believe for it, but let us, at the same time, keep our purpose fixed on His will and glory, and claim even His promised blessings, not for themselves or ourselves, but for Him. Then shall it be true, "Delight thyself in the Lord, and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart." All other things but Himself God will "add." But they must be ever added, never first.
Then shall we be able to believe for them without doubt, when we claim them for Him and not for ourselves. It is only when "we are Christ's" that "all things are ours."
Lord, help me this day to seek Thee first, and be more desirous to please Thee and have Thy will than to possess any other blessing.]
The Key
As I walked up to the Kingdom gate
I couldn't enter in,
for it was locked and very secure
and the lock was titled "sin"!
I knew the place I wanted to be
was on the other side,
but my sin was keeping from getting there
and also my foolish pride.
The Kingdom gate was too high
for me to try and climb.
It's lock was too heavy to break,
no matter how hard I tried.
Then in my heart I heard a voice
it was very personal to me.
Jesus said, "The only way is to believe,
for I Am the Living Key!"
It was then that I finally understood,
the only thing I could do,
is put my life in Jesus hands,
for only He can get me through!
E. P. Shagott
2/12/10
From God's heart, to mine, to yours,
Ed Shagott
February 12
"But seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you" (Matthew vi. 33).
[A devotional by A. B. Simpson]
[For every heart that is seeking anything from the Lord this is a good watchword. That very thing, or the desire for it, may unconsciously separate you from the Lord, or at least from the singleness of your purpose unto Him. The thing we desire may be a right thing, but we may desire it in a distrusting and selfish spirit. Let us commit it to Him, and not cease to believe for it, but let us, at the same time, keep our purpose fixed on His will and glory, and claim even His promised blessings, not for themselves or ourselves, but for Him. Then shall it be true, "Delight thyself in the Lord, and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart." All other things but Himself God will "add." But they must be ever added, never first.
Then shall we be able to believe for them without doubt, when we claim them for Him and not for ourselves. It is only when "we are Christ's" that "all things are ours."
Lord, help me this day to seek Thee first, and be more desirous to please Thee and have Thy will than to possess any other blessing.]
The Key
As I walked up to the Kingdom gate
I couldn't enter in,
for it was locked and very secure
and the lock was titled "sin"!
I knew the place I wanted to be
was on the other side,
but my sin was keeping from getting there
and also my foolish pride.
The Kingdom gate was too high
for me to try and climb.
It's lock was too heavy to break,
no matter how hard I tried.
Then in my heart I heard a voice
it was very personal to me.
Jesus said, "The only way is to believe,
for I Am the Living Key!"
It was then that I finally understood,
the only thing I could do,
is put my life in Jesus hands,
for only He can get me through!
E. P. Shagott
2/12/10
From God's heart, to mine, to yours,
Ed Shagott
Thursday, February 11, 2010
When it rains, it pours!
"Strengthened with all might unto all patience" (Col. i. 11).
Just a couple days ago I was presenting a God's Love program "Seeds of Love" from the "Seeds for Christ" series at Father Baker Manor. After the program was over and I was visiting with the residents I came to this younger woman, younger than me for sure, who is confined to a bed chair. Her body has given up on her. My friends as I was reading the devotional by A. B. Simpson and also the poem by Eben E. Rexford below I was pondering on the words "patience and long-suffering." This young woman and so many others of "God's Wounded", I pray they can understand their long-suffering that they are enduring on this earth. Interesting as A. B. Simpson writes about it as a earthly lesson to be learned, for it will not be in Heaven. Through this young woman's anguish she gave me a big smile that made my day.
[A devotional by A. B. Simpson]
[The apostle prays for the Colossians, that they may be "strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, unto all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness." It is one thing to endure and show the strain on every muscle of your face, and seem to say with every wrinkle, "Why does not somebody sympathize with me?" It is another to endure the cross, "despising the shame" for the joy set before us.
There are some trees in the garden of the Lord which "shall not see when heat cometh"; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, nor cease from yielding fruit. Let us set our faces toward the sunrising and use the clouds that come, to make rainbows. Not much longer shall we have the glorious opportunity to rejoice in tribulation, and learn patience. In heaven we shall have nothing to teach long-suffering. If we do not learn it here, we shall be without our brightest crown forever, and wish ourselves back for a little while, in the very circumstances of which we are now trying so hard to get rid.]
*************************************************
[From a devotional by Mrs. Charles Cowman - Streams in the Desert]
[Last night I heard a robin singing in the rain,
And the raindrop's patter made a sweet refrain,
Making all the sweeter the music of the strain.
So, I thought, when trouble comes, as trouble will,
Why should I stop singing? Just beyond the hill
It may be that sunshine floods the green world still.
He who faces the trouble with a heart of cheer
Makes the burden lighter. If there falls a tear,
Sweeter is the cadence in the song we hear.
I have learned your lesson, bird with dappled wing,
Listening to your music with its lilt of spring
When the storm-cloud darkens, then's the TIME to sing.
--Eben E. Rexford]
From God's heart, to mine, to yours,
Ed Shagott
Just a couple days ago I was presenting a God's Love program "Seeds of Love" from the "Seeds for Christ" series at Father Baker Manor. After the program was over and I was visiting with the residents I came to this younger woman, younger than me for sure, who is confined to a bed chair. Her body has given up on her. My friends as I was reading the devotional by A. B. Simpson and also the poem by Eben E. Rexford below I was pondering on the words "patience and long-suffering." This young woman and so many others of "God's Wounded", I pray they can understand their long-suffering that they are enduring on this earth. Interesting as A. B. Simpson writes about it as a earthly lesson to be learned, for it will not be in Heaven. Through this young woman's anguish she gave me a big smile that made my day.
[A devotional by A. B. Simpson]
[The apostle prays for the Colossians, that they may be "strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, unto all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness." It is one thing to endure and show the strain on every muscle of your face, and seem to say with every wrinkle, "Why does not somebody sympathize with me?" It is another to endure the cross, "despising the shame" for the joy set before us.
There are some trees in the garden of the Lord which "shall not see when heat cometh"; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, nor cease from yielding fruit. Let us set our faces toward the sunrising and use the clouds that come, to make rainbows. Not much longer shall we have the glorious opportunity to rejoice in tribulation, and learn patience. In heaven we shall have nothing to teach long-suffering. If we do not learn it here, we shall be without our brightest crown forever, and wish ourselves back for a little while, in the very circumstances of which we are now trying so hard to get rid.]
*************************************************
[From a devotional by Mrs. Charles Cowman - Streams in the Desert]
[Last night I heard a robin singing in the rain,
And the raindrop's patter made a sweet refrain,
Making all the sweeter the music of the strain.
So, I thought, when trouble comes, as trouble will,
Why should I stop singing? Just beyond the hill
It may be that sunshine floods the green world still.
He who faces the trouble with a heart of cheer
Makes the burden lighter. If there falls a tear,
Sweeter is the cadence in the song we hear.
I have learned your lesson, bird with dappled wing,
Listening to your music with its lilt of spring
When the storm-cloud darkens, then's the TIME to sing.
--Eben E. Rexford]
From God's heart, to mine, to yours,
Ed Shagott
Monday, February 8, 2010
Being Humble, Are You?
“In the face of unjust criticism we can become bitter or better; upset or understanding; hostile or humble; furious or forgiving”
William Arthur Ward
(American dedicated scholar, author, editor, pastor and teacher)
“The more a person analyzes his inner self, the more insignificant he seems to himself. This is the first lesson of wisdom. Let us be humble, and we will become wise. Let us know our weakness, and it will give us power.”
William Ellery Channing
(American moralist, Unitarian Clergyman and Author, 1780-1842)
“My chief concern is to try to be an humble, earnest Christian.”
Robert E. Lee
“My religion consists of a humble admiration of the illimitable superior spirit who reveals himself in the slight details we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble mind.”
Albert Einstein
(German born American Physicist who developed the special and general theories of relativity. Nobel Prize for Physics in 1921. 1879-1955)
“The real problem is not why some pious, humble, believing people suffer, but why some do not.”
C.S. Lewis
(British Scholar and Novelist. 1898-1963)
“Let us touch the dying, the poor, the lonely and the unwanted according to the graces we have received and let us not be ashamed or slow to do the humble work.”
Mother Teresa of Calcutta
(Albanian born Indian Missionary and Founder of the Order of the Missionaries of Charity. Nobel Prize for Peace in 1979. 1910-1997)
“The praise that comes from love does not make us vain, but more humble.”
James Matthew Barrie
(Scottish Dramatist and Novelist best known as the creator of Peter Pan, 1860-1937)
“To be humble to superiors is duty, to equals courtesy, to inferiors nobleness.”
Benjamin Franklin
(American Statesman, Scientist, Philosopher, Printer, Writer and Inventor. 1706-1790)
“Believe in yourself! Have faith in your abilities! Without a humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers you cannot be successful or happy.”
Norman Vincent Peale
(American Protestant Clergyman and Writer, 1898-1993)
“Jesus is the God whom we can approach without pride and before whom we can humble ourselves without despair.”
Blaise Pascal
(French Mathematician, Philosopher and Physicist, 1623-1662)
“Talent is God given. Be humble. Fame is man-given. Be grateful. Conceit is self-given. Be careful.”
John Wooden
(American , b.1910)
“Build me a son, O Lord, who will be strong enough to know when he is weak, and brave enough to face himself when he is afraid, one who will be proud and unbending in honest defeat, and humble and gentle in victory.”
Douglas MacArthur
(American General who commanded the Southwest Pacific Theatre in World War II, 1880-1964)
“Religion is to do right. It is to love, it is to serve, it is to think, it is to be humble.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson
(American Poet, Lecturer and Essayist, 1803-1882)
“Don't be humble. You aren't that great.”
Golda Meir
(Israeli Founder and Prime Minister. 1898-1978)
“God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble
[James 4:6]”
Being Humble
I am a humbled person,
when my eyes are on someone, but not me.
I am humbled in the presence
of someone longing to be free.
I am so very humble,
when I see the hurting and the lost.
I am also humble
in the presence of Jesus and the Cross.
See, the reason this makes me humble,
is because God opened my eyes to see.
If not for His love and grace,
there never would be a me.
It is nothing I ever did,
or could ever hope to do.
It is because He looked down from above
and said, “I love you!”
E. P. Shagott
2/8/10
From God's heart, to mine, to yours,
Ed Shagott
William Arthur Ward
(American dedicated scholar, author, editor, pastor and teacher)
“The more a person analyzes his inner self, the more insignificant he seems to himself. This is the first lesson of wisdom. Let us be humble, and we will become wise. Let us know our weakness, and it will give us power.”
William Ellery Channing
(American moralist, Unitarian Clergyman and Author, 1780-1842)
“My chief concern is to try to be an humble, earnest Christian.”
Robert E. Lee
“My religion consists of a humble admiration of the illimitable superior spirit who reveals himself in the slight details we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble mind.”
Albert Einstein
(German born American Physicist who developed the special and general theories of relativity. Nobel Prize for Physics in 1921. 1879-1955)
“The real problem is not why some pious, humble, believing people suffer, but why some do not.”
C.S. Lewis
(British Scholar and Novelist. 1898-1963)
“Let us touch the dying, the poor, the lonely and the unwanted according to the graces we have received and let us not be ashamed or slow to do the humble work.”
Mother Teresa of Calcutta
(Albanian born Indian Missionary and Founder of the Order of the Missionaries of Charity. Nobel Prize for Peace in 1979. 1910-1997)
“The praise that comes from love does not make us vain, but more humble.”
James Matthew Barrie
(Scottish Dramatist and Novelist best known as the creator of Peter Pan, 1860-1937)
“To be humble to superiors is duty, to equals courtesy, to inferiors nobleness.”
Benjamin Franklin
(American Statesman, Scientist, Philosopher, Printer, Writer and Inventor. 1706-1790)
“Believe in yourself! Have faith in your abilities! Without a humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers you cannot be successful or happy.”
Norman Vincent Peale
(American Protestant Clergyman and Writer, 1898-1993)
“Jesus is the God whom we can approach without pride and before whom we can humble ourselves without despair.”
Blaise Pascal
(French Mathematician, Philosopher and Physicist, 1623-1662)
“Talent is God given. Be humble. Fame is man-given. Be grateful. Conceit is self-given. Be careful.”
John Wooden
(American , b.1910)
“Build me a son, O Lord, who will be strong enough to know when he is weak, and brave enough to face himself when he is afraid, one who will be proud and unbending in honest defeat, and humble and gentle in victory.”
Douglas MacArthur
(American General who commanded the Southwest Pacific Theatre in World War II, 1880-1964)
“Religion is to do right. It is to love, it is to serve, it is to think, it is to be humble.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson
(American Poet, Lecturer and Essayist, 1803-1882)
“Don't be humble. You aren't that great.”
Golda Meir
(Israeli Founder and Prime Minister. 1898-1978)
“God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble
[James 4:6]”
Being Humble
I am a humbled person,
when my eyes are on someone, but not me.
I am humbled in the presence
of someone longing to be free.
I am so very humble,
when I see the hurting and the lost.
I am also humble
in the presence of Jesus and the Cross.
See, the reason this makes me humble,
is because God opened my eyes to see.
If not for His love and grace,
there never would be a me.
It is nothing I ever did,
or could ever hope to do.
It is because He looked down from above
and said, “I love you!”
E. P. Shagott
2/8/10
From God's heart, to mine, to yours,
Ed Shagott
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