A really tough man never has to prove anything to anybody, he knows what he can do and he doesn’t care even a mite whether anybody else knows or not.”
              –Louis L’Amour  (The First Fast Draw)

    “The Lord is my strength and my song; he has given me victory. This is my God, and I will praise him— my father’s God, and I will exalt him!”
              –Exodus 15:2 (NLT)
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          “My Father, I don’t understand Thee, but I trust Thee.”
                     –unknown

I have heard over the past years that we must have a “relationship” with God.  And that is true.  He is our heavenly Father.  The issue becomes when things, circumstances, situations, storms and battles happen and we don’t understand what is going on, or why.  Do you still trust your heavenly Father?
What kind of relationship do you have with Him?
    Let me give you four ways that God is in charge (thanks to Stephen Brown).  These are four ways in which we can begin to put our complete trust in Him.

         1)  He creates!  He is the First Cause.  
                   Maybe you have started a project, job, or even a career and you began with fear and trembling.  Perhaps you even failed in your endeavor.  We do not have the assurance that when we start something that it will happen, that all will go according to plan.  However, God always achieves the results He intends.  “When He created, He knew every single, minute effect of that creation.”
         2)  He sustains!  Deism, any form of it, it false!
                   God is always there; He is always working.  The laws of nature were put in place and will continue to be constant until He decides differently.  
         3)  He acts!  God is a God of action.
                   He is now sitting with His feet propped up on the throne.  He is not in a backroom or on vacation.  He is not stuffed somewhere in a display in a museum.  He is involved with His creation, especially involved with His children and will often intervene in creation for them.  He interacts with His children.
         4)  He plans for the future!  In reality, the future has already been planned.
                   “History moves in the exact direction that God intended; it is the manifestation of His plan.”  Remember, we are co-workers in that plan.

I read just yesterday that there are those, believe it or not, who say that theology is not needed, but only a relationship.  Theology means the study of God.  As a child growing up you studied, whether you realized it or not, the actions of those around you, especially your parents–for good or bad.  You got to know them.  The same is true concerning God.  We must study who He is; what does His Word say about Him?  How can we become like Him, if we do not know Him?  There can be no relationship without a proper theology.
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Ponder This:  A man had to kill his best friend in order to save him from a terrible death.  How would you react if that was you?  Would you become despondent and depressed?  Perhaps you would have the inclination to run away.  What would you do if this person was a friend of yours?  Would he be worth searching for and salvaging?  This is what happened to Elias Butler and he friend, Miles Forrest is on a quest to find his friend.
    REDEMPTION is now on sale on Amazon.  This is Book 3 in the life of Elias Butler.  Buy it, you’ll like it.  You can order it, and when it comes, take some time with a cup of coffee to read about the continuing adventures of Elias Butler.

If you have the guts to take it the hard way, you’ll get a lot more out of life.”
              –William MacLeod Raine  (Rustlers’ Gap)

    “Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. Once I spent a whole night and a day adrift at sea.”
              –2 Corinthians 11:25 (NLT)
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I have always enjoyed reading biographies.  Since the first of the year I have started reading them again and I have found a few little biographical sketches in a book by Robert J. Morgan.  I’m sharing the story of Christmas Evans this morning.

    He was born, guess when?  Christmas, 1766 to a poor Welsh shoemaker and his wife.  His father died when he was nine so his mother “farmed out” the children.  Christmas went to live with an alcoholic uncles.  “The boy ran with rough gangs, fighting and drinking and endangering his life.  His was unable to read a word.
    “But then Christmas heard the Welsh evangelist David Davies.  He soon gave his life to Christ, and Davies began teaching him by candlelight in a barn at Penyralltfawr.  Within a month Christmas was able to read from his Bible, and he expressed a desire to preach.  His old gang, however, was annoyed.  One night they attacked him on a mountain road, beating him and gouging out his right eye.
    “The young man resolved nonetheless to preach, and preach he did.  Wherever he went–churches, coal mines, open fields–crowds gathered and a spirit of revival swept over the listeners.  Unable to afford a horse, he started across Wales by foot, preaching in towns and villages with great effect.
    “But Christmas Evans eventually lost the joy of ministry.  His health broke, and he seemed to have used up his spiritual zeal.  On April 10, 1802 he climbed into the Welsh mountains, determined to wrestle with God until his passion returned.  The struggle lasts for hours, but finally tears began to flow , and Christmas felt the joy of his salvation returning.  He made a covenant with God that day, writing down 13 items, initialing each one.  The fourth said, ‘Grant that I may not be left to any foolish act that may occasion my gifts to wither…’  And the eighth said, ‘Grant that I may experience the power of thy word before I deliver it.’
    “The burly, one-eyed preacher left the mountaintop that day with a power that shook Wales and the neighboring island of Anglesea until his death 36 years later.  He is called the ‘Bunyan of Wales.'”

It makes me wonder what all thirteen of his items were in his covenant with God.
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Ponder This:  The past is vital for our survival.  For good or bad it is a legacy.  Read the following and reflect.

    “Yet today, at the respective ages of 82 and 79, Serge and Beate Klarsfeld say they are horrified by the state of affairs in Europe and beyond: the rise of right-wing populist movements, and now governments, across the continent, often fueled by support from young voters. The parallel forces of nationalism and xenophobia, once again permissible in the public sphere. The apparent desire — from Poland to the United States — to play with the truth of the past so as to alter the norms of the present, the norms the Klarsfelds spent decades upholding.”

Did you pick up on that phrase, “play with the truth of the past so as to alter the norms of the present,”?  That is exactly the purpose of postmodernism.  Change whatever is needed, keeping a bit of truth, to fulfill the agenda.

Nobody ever told me life was easy, and for me it had never been, but I was the stronger because of it.  One learns to succeed by succeeding in small things first.  Mostly a person learns to succeed by simply overcoming failure.”
              –Louis L’Amour  (Passin’ Through)

    “‘Well done!’ said his master, ‘you’re a sound, reliable servant. You’ve been trustworthy over a few things, now I’m going to put you in charge of many. Come in and share your master’s pleasure.’”
              –Matthew 25:23 (Phillips)
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Fanny Crosby was an amazing lady and servant of the Lord.  Though blind, she had an insight that was so special with her loving Savior.  She wrote more than eight thousands hymns in her life.  One of her most favorites was “My Savior First of All.”

         “When my life-work is ended, and I cross the swelling tide,
          When the bright and glorious morning I shall see,
          I shall know my Redeemer when I reach the other side,
          And His smile will be the first to welcome me.”

At some point in our lives we will probably wonder, “when will that day come”?  We do not know when we shall depart this earth, but one thing for certain – it will not happen until our life-work is over.  Until that last breath there will be things to do.  I don’t know how it will happen, but I do think she has it right.  The first person to welcome us when we get to heaven will be Jesus Himself.  How that can possibly happen, I don’t know or pretend to understand.

         “O the soul-thrilling rapture when I view His blessed face,     
          And the luster of His kindly beaming eye!
          How my full heart will praise Him for the mercy, love, and grace
          That prepare for me a mansion in the sky!”

It will not be by any of our own merit, that’s for sure.  He has gone away to prepare a place for us; one day we will enter that heavenly abode.  But it will be only through his mercy, love, and grace.  There is a popular song out right now, “I can only imagine,” but Scripture declares we will fall at His feet.  But truly, our finite minds cannot grasp what it will be like in His presence.

         “O the dear ones in glory–how they beckon me to come,
          And our parting at the river I recall!
          To the sweet vales of Eden they will sing my welcome home;
          But I long to meet my Savior first of all.”

Can you recall the funerals of loved ones that you have attended?  Those who were Christians we did not want them to depart, even knowing that they were now in glory.  But that is a thought:  they are on the other side, waiting, beckoning for us to finish the race.  Most of all, the Person who is waiting the most for us is Jesus our Lord.  He will be the One who will welcome us home.

         “Thro’ the gates to the city in a robe os spotless white,
          He will lead me where no tears will ever fall.
          In the glad song of ages I shall mingle with delight;
          But I long to meet my Savior first of all.”

We struggle with life down here below.  We try to keep our clothes clean and white, but to no avail as the dirt of this world gets on them.  We scrub, and rightly so, but our sanctification is not complete until that day when He will robe us in garments of white.  When we see His face, we will be completely overwhelmed as we get a glimpse of His countenance and then look at the nail prints in His hand and realize that we are truly redeemed.

                       “I shall know Him; I shall know Him,
                        And redeemed by His side I shall stand.
                        I shall know Him, I shall know Him
                        By the prints of the nails in His hand.”