“Look upon mine affliction and my pain; and forgive all my sins.”—Psalm 25:18.

“Look upon mine affliction and my pain; and forgive all my sins.”—Psalm 25:18. IT is well for us when prayers about our sorrows are linked with pleas concerning our sins—when, being under God’s hand, we are not wholly taken up with our pain, but remember our offences against God. It is well, also, to take both sorrow and sin to the same place. It was to God that David carried his sorrow: it was to God that David confessed his sin. Observe, then, we must take our sorrows to God. Even your little sorrows you may roll upon God, for …

Read more

Through Troubled Waters

When hardship skews our judgment, we can depend on the Holy Spirit and Scripture to guide us in truth Through Troubled Waters Psalms Chapter 25 1 (A Psalm of David.) Unto thee, O LORD, do I lift up my soul. 2 O my God, I trust in thee: let me not be ashamed, let not mine enemies triumph over me. 3 Yea, let none that wait on thee be ashamed: let them be ashamed which transgress without cause. 4 Shew me thy ways, O LORD; teach me thy paths. 5 Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou …

Read more

The Lord Jesus Christ is our mercy seat!

But Mary stood outside by the tomb weeping, and as she wept she stooped down and looked into the tomb. And she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain.” John 20:11-12 The two angels sitting “one at the head and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain” brings to mind the mercy seat of the Ark of the Covenant in Exodus 25 which was where the High Priest sprinkled the blood of atonement each year pointing to the coming …

Read more

HIS AMAZING FAITHFULNESS

ISAIAH 63:7 _______________________________________ “I will mention the lovingkindnesses of the LORD and the praises of the LORD, according to all that the LORD has bestowed on us… ” HIS AMAZING FAITHFULNESS A few weeks ago, I was walking in the hills near my home and came to an old oak tree that has now become the logo for the city of Chino Hills in Southern California. As I passed by, I was reminded of a memory. In 1986, we moved from Costa Mesa to what would later become the city of Chino Hills. Back then there were fewer roads and …

Read more

“For there stood by me this night the angel of God.”—Acts 27:23.

“For there stood by me this night the angel of God.”—Acts 27:23. TEMPEST and long darkness, coupled with imminent risk of shipwreck, had brought the crew of the vessel into a sad case; one man alone among them remained perfectly calm, and by his word the rest were reassured. Paul was the only man who had heart enough to say, “Sirs, be of good cheer.” There were veteran Roman legionaries on board, and brave old mariners, and yet their poor Jewish prisoner had more spirit than they all. He had a secret Friend who kept his courage up. The Lord Jesus …

Read more

THE RESURRECTION NOT A “HOPE SO” BUT A “HOPE SURE” BECAUSE OUR REDEEMER LIVES!

Every saint’s great “hope is in the resurrection of the dead!” (Acts 23:6). When Christ arose, death died. The angel rolled away the stone from Jesus’ tomb, not to let the living Lord out but to let the unconvinced outsiders in. And so Christianity is a religion of the open tomb! Indeed, the best news the world has ever heard came from a Jerusalem graveyard! When Socrates lay dying, he was asked “Shall we live again,” to which he replied “I hope so!” Socrates’ hope was “to want something to happen or be true.” To which Job responds “For what …

Read more

Conviction vs. Condemnation

Reflections Conviction vs. Condemnation (The Spirit of God) will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment. (John 16:8) There is NO condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. (Rom. 8:1) God never condemns the redeemed. But God does convict of sin, righteousness, and judgment. Conviction from God is never condemnation. While BOTH condemnation and conviction do carry a sense of hopelessness within ourselves – and that is the Truth — we are hopeless if left to ourselves — condemnation leaves us there without resolution. Conviction, on the other hand, will always carry a realization of God’s forgiveness …

Read more

And there followed him a great company of people, and of women, which also bewailed and lamented him.” Luke 23:27

And there followed him a great company of people, and of women, which also bewailed and lamented him.” Luke 23:27 Amid the rabble rout which hounded the Redeemer to his doom, there were some gracious souls whose bitter anguish sought vent in wailing and lamentations–fit music to accompany that march of woe. When my soul can, in imagination, see the Saviour bearing his cross to Calvary, she joins the godly women and weeps with them; for, indeed, there is true cause for grief–cause lying deeper than those mourning women thought. They bewailed innocence maltreated, goodness persecuted, love bleeding, meekness about …

Read more