“For years I sang my songs and whistled my tunes to the beat of hoofs and the jingling of spurs.”          –Buckskin Brady

Now if I tried that there would be noise in the camp.  For some reason I think that horse would take a conniption fit.  I know there are soothing sounds to animals; well, my joyful noise isn’t one of them.
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Since I’ve mentioned Buckskin Brady a couple of times this week, I’ll write his testimony toward the closing of his life.

“I’m saved from the crown of my hat to my horse’s heels–head, heart, pocket-book, testimony and all.  I’ve left the devil’s bad lands with their blowouts and corkscrew trails, and I’m away out across the old Jordan ford in good old Canaan Land, where there is nothing but sunshine between me and glory.  God’s love is burning in my heart day and night, and he leads me all the way.  I’ve got a religion that takes all the kinks out of the trail at a jump, and hits a bee-line for heaven on a fresh horse.  I’m on a high lope.  Glory to God!”
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Aren’t you glad?  I mean, aren’t you really glad?  Just look at the writings of Paul in Galatians, “Christ has set us free.” (5:1)  Now that is something that almost gets me to clogging in the kitchen.  If we truly have faith; faith in the forgiveness of God then we should realize we are free of the past.  With true repentance and true faith Christ sweeps away the record of the past.
I like what A.J. Mattill writes, “With love which manifests itself in service to others, the Christian man is free in the present.  As wings give freedom to a bird, so service brings liberty to man.”  Service and sacrifice is what is required and few realize that they are the key to truly bringing liberty.  There it is again, service.  Remember the Old Testament scripture, “Obedience is better than sacrifice.”  Service then brings your praise.  In fact, they really go hand-in-hand.
One more little thing to remember, that because of Christ and the message of eternal salvation, the Christian is free into the future.  He knows who holds the future.  No matter the situation, the type of prison he may find himself in, there is freedom because Christ has the answer, He is the answer.
You may have heard of the John Chrysostom.  He was a fourth century church leader who was arrested for being a Christian.  He has this to say, “Will the Empress cause me to be sawn asunder?  So it was with Isaiah.  Will she cut off my head?  I shall have John for my companion.  Will she cause me to be stoned?  So it happened to Stephen.”  Mattill states, “The Christian man may have shackles on his feet, but he has a spiritual liberty independent of all physical conditions.”
In closing I want to pass along a little prayer, again by Mattill.  “O God, who can comprehend the glorious liberty of the Christian man?  He is lord over sin, death, and hell, and yet at the same time serves all men.  In the name of the Christ who sets us free.  Amen.”

“If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be.  Now put foundations under them.”        –Henry David Thoreau

“Any god who promises to fulfill all of our desires is the devil in disguise.”           –Donald W. McCullough

I heard not too long ago that in the pews (oops, seats) of the church sit “future billionaires” along with future professional athletes, musicians, businessmen, etc.  each vocation mentioned had something to do with money or glamour.  I never heard it once mentioned:  future missionaries, future cooks, future farmers.  Everyone wants to look for the pie in the sky or the garden variety type of life.  Few will pick up their cross and carry it.
There is the thought today that “God will make me great.”  Now ponder that for a minute.  Before going further, let me say that the above professions are not necessarily wrong in themselves.  However, the attitude and the heart behind why they want that profession might be something to reevaluate.  It is important to remember that the Holy Spirit primarily seeks servants.
The questions need to be reaffirmed, “Who is the greatest?”  “Who is the richest?”  If a person has been given wealth by the Lord, what then is his responsibility?  Is it to hoard, to gloat, or to lord it over others?  It seems as if we get too caught up in our special little dreams, or in some cases, grandiose dreams, that we don’t really bring the Lord into the picture and ask Him what He wants with our lives.
What would be wrong if a person wanted to be a hog-farmer?  After all, how many people do you know that don’t like bacon?  But to think that God may want me to slop the hogs for a living, well, that just ain’t kosher.  Hmmm, it’s better to be a doorkeeper in the house of the Lord….
On the other hand if you are made great, then the Lord has allowed it for a reason.  The problem is that so many are not good stewards of the blessings that God has bestowed upon them.  They waste it on themselves or they seek more blessings, more blessings, and for what?

“He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?”         –Micah 6:8 (NKJV)

Is there a deep cry out there in the Church?  I would surely hope so, but there seems to be more entertainment rather than tarrying for the power of the Holy Spirit.  How much do we really want from God?  This is not talking about blessings, but about a daily walk with the Lord.  There is a cry for “relationship” but do they strive to develop that relationship?  I think that C.P Jones had the answer, or at least the cry of the heart.

          “Deeper, deeper in the love of Jesus
           Daily let me go;
           Higher, higher in the school of wisdom,
           More of grace to know.”

The school of the Holy Spirit; do we dare to enter those sacred halls?  Walking down those corridors may mean suffering and hard work; there may be obstacles that we do not know how to handle only with the help of the Spirit.  We are to worship; to love God with our total being and that means to do it with our wills.  To be lost in the will of Christ, oh my, could we handle it?

          “Deeper, deeper!  blessed Holy Spirit,
           Take me deeper still,
           Till my life is wholly lost in Jesus,
           And His perfect will.”

To walk that road with Jesus may bring trials.  It may be a time of hardship and toil.  A person may want to walk that way.  James and John wanted to sit on the right and left hand of Jesus, and He asked if they were able to drink of His cup.  They said of course, not knowing what they were saying, and Jesus said to them that they surely will.  The only way a person can make it if they want to truly wanting to know the deep things of the Lord is to be rooted in Him.

          “Deeper, deeper!  tho’ it cost hard trials,
           Deeper let me go!
           Rooted in the holy love of Jesus,
           Let me fruitful grow.”

Scripture declares that we are more than conquerors.  I have often pondered that idea.  Jones, I believe, has hit on the truth of that statement.  We are more than conquerors when we finally hear the words of Jesus when He says, “Well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of the Lord.”  With that then we are truly more than conquerors, for this evil world did not defeat us.

          “Deeper, higher, ev’ry day in Jesus,
           Till all conflict past,
           Finds me conqu’ror, and in His own image
           Perfected at last.”

               “O deeper yet, I pray,
                And higher ev’ry day,
                And wiser, blessed Lord,
                In Thy precious, holy word.”

“Hope in Christ deepens and strengthens your faith.  It increases your love and makes your truly compassionate.  It broadens your horizons and makes your actions dynamic.  It brings sense and meaning to every moment of your life.”          –unknown

Yesterday we took communion at church and the pastor made reference to the idea that there are thousands of Christians throughout the world sharing communion.  That started me to thinking.  For the past two millennium the Church has been sharing the Lord’s Supper.  It is done in obedience to Him and He said to do it until He returned.  That is quite a legacy; think of all of those millions who have broken bread together.  That is quite an honor; think of individuals who have shared it.
I think of the last phrase of Ira Stanphill’s song, “Supper Time”, in which he wrote, “The banquet table’s ready up in heaven, It’s supper time upon the golden strand.”  One day all of us will share in that Marriage Supper and break bread together and with the Lord.  Now that will be something.
But one more thing.  The sharing of the communion should build up hope in us.  Jesus said that He would not share it again until the kingdom of God has come.  That should stir up hope within us.  Hmmm, is that the smell of bread baking up in heaven?
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Annie said that I should write a devotion on those preachers of the West that I mentioned last week.  That would be fine, except for the time involved; something called research.  I do have some work by a cowboy-preacher that went by the name of Buckskin Brady – or Brother Brady, who did most of his work in Montana.  Here is an excerpt from one of his sermons.

“The devil never brands a man at a baseball game, or at an opera, or ball-room, or at a whiskey bar, or gambling-table, but he always brands him before he gets him there by putting temptation in his way, the thought in his mind and the desire in his heart.  He just starts a little fire, just a tiny one, but it is always hot enough to heat his irons.
The first willful step that you take in the wrong direction the devil puts his brand on you.  It must be that he took advantage of you, dogged your steps night and day with temptations, till at last he caught you off your guard, or sleeping when you should have been watching.  You allowed him to fan the evil desire into a little flame that heated his iron for the work.  Then he made the tiniest little mark, so small at first that no one could see it.  He just touched you lightly, softly, gently, found the place on your soul where he could make the easiest impressions, and then applied the hot iron so easily, so gently, that it almost had been a caress.  But the step had been taken, the fire kindled, the hot mark made before you were aware of it.
So the fire grew hotter and hotter, and the mark burned deeper and deeper, till at last you felt the hellish fire blazing within you, awakening you up to the fact that the devil had put his brand on you–but it was too late.
You tried to get rid of the hideous mark by endeavoring to overcome the fire, but it was of no use.  Then you tried to cover it up, to smother it with your conscience but, like so many others, you forgot to ask God to do the work for you; and so it proved to be a miserable failure….
What will you do, then, with the devil’s brand?  You can’t cover it up, your conscience can’t smother it, ink won’t blot it out, talk won’t rub it off, water won’t wash it away, nor is there any vent recorded with it, any mark making it of none effect; but there is one thing left for you to do, and only one–that is, to have the blood of Jesus Christ our Savior applied, which will remove the old sin brand inside and out, and will do it at once and forever if you ask Him in true repentance and faith….”
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Now, I’m not much good at this here advertising, I guess they refer to it as marketing.  But here goes, take a notion and round up the book, “The True and Unbiased Life of Elias Butler.”  If you read the story of Miles Forrest that I write you should like this book, in fact, this is where Miles and Elias first meet.  You might remember Elias if you have kept up with the Saga of Miles Forrest.
It is the story of Elias when he left Tennessee after the Civil War and headed for Texas.  It tells of his acquaintance with a rancher and of his work on a cattle drive from Waco to Abilene.  It may be purchased from Amazon.  Look up the title, or D. C. Adkisson.