I feel the touch of hands so kind and tender.
They’re leading me in the paths that I must trod.
I’ll have no fear for Jesus walks beside me
For I’m sheltered in the arms of God.
Soon I shall hear the call from heaven’s portals
Come home my child,
It’s the last mile you must trod
I’ll fall asleep
And wake in God’s sweet heaven
For I’m sheltered in the arms of God.
“..If I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto MYSELF.” Jesus -John 14:3
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I’m forgiven, because you were forsaken
I’m accepted, you were condemned
I’m alive and well, you’re spirit is within me
Because you died and rose again
Amazing love, how can it be
That you my king would die for me
Amazing love, I know it’s true
It’s my JOY to honor you
In all I do, I honor you!
“For God, who commanded the light to shine out of the darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowlege of the the glory of God, in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.” 2 Corinthians 4: 6-11
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For the past couple of years now I have meditated on the beautiful fruit of gentleness and worked and prayed that God would bless me with this most valuable character trait.
Now, through the course of a present trial, compassion has become my theme. I can’t get away from thinking about it and meditating over it. So precious has it been to me in the midst of tumults, fears and insecurities.
Compassion- beautiful, calming and precious compassion. Another rare fruit indeed. A fruit that I am praying will be imbedded into the very depths of my being through this dark tunnel in which I am passing through.
I have always felt myself to be a compassionate person yet I am learning that compassion needs a very deep root system if it is to stay intact, and the roots of compassion will only go deep in contrary conditions; in heart-wrenching trials.
Even the Hebrew and Greek deffinitions of compassion seem to get deeper and deeper as you read each one:
Compassion- to spare, take pity upon, have mercy on… to find compassion, be loved; feelings of compassion are usually accompanied by acts of compassion… to show pity on another person who is in serious need, usually with a focus on an act of kindness that will help meet that need… to deal gently… to sympathize with, touched with the feeling…sympathetic.
It has been said that people don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care. How true this is exemplified when we look upon our Saviour and how He dealt with souls.
First, He healed, He gave, He sacrificed. He showed the multitudes how much he loved and cared about them. He took such pity upon them- THEN- they chose to sit and listen to Him and they eagerly drank in all He had to say. They wanted to listen to Him and to be with Him. He had shown them so much mercy, taken such pity upon their seemingly hopeless conditions. He had brought hope back into their lives. They naturally flocked to Him, so drawn were they to this beautiful, compassionate man. Even when He tried to get away across the lake, they followed Him over. When the man with legion was healed, he sat at Jesus’ feet and hung upon His every word. He cried, “Lord, I want to go with you!” Whenever Mary and Martha heard He was in town, their hearts lept with great joy and they scrambled to prepare their home for His comfort. Zacheaus was full of joy and rapture that this gentle, compassionate man would want to come into his home and stay.
Story after story reveals people with a fervent, burning, love and desire to be with the LORD, all of which was preceeded by compassion eminating from this Holy Ghost filled man. How powerful compassion is!
Anyone can preach a message. Anyone can point out the faults and sins of another. But…
“Who can have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way?” (going astray; beset by weaknesses) For He (Jesus) himself also is compassed with infirmity.” Hebrews 5:2
Who can take pity on them, have mercy, love them, show them concern through ‘acts of kindness’? Who can help meet their needs? Who can deal gently with them? Who can sympathize and be touched with the feeling of their infirmity? Who? Who is willing?
“But whosoever hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have a need, and shutteth up his bowels (his heart) of compassion, how dwelleth the love of God in Him?” 1 John 3: 17-18
If we believe we have the love of God dwelling in us let us consider that love accordingly:
“But when He saw the multitude, He was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd.” Matt 9:36
“But thou, O LORD, art a God FULL of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth.“ Ps. 86:15
“He hath made His wonderful works to be remembered: The LORD is gracious and FULL of compassion.” Ps. 111:4
“The LORD is gracious, and FULL of compassion; slow to anger, and great in mercy. The LORD is good to all; and his tender mercies are over all His workd. “ Ps 145: 8-9
“It is of the LORD’s mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions FAIL NOT; They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness!” Lam 3: 22-23
What, we may wonder, are acts “moved by compassion”?
“For I was hungry, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison and ye came unto me.” Matt 25:35-36
But who are they that “shutteth up their bowels of compassion”?
verses 42-43 paraphrased-
I was hungry- you gave me nothing to satisfy my hunger: I was thirsty you brought no cool water in your hands: I was strange so you avoided me: I was vulnerable yet you offered no protection or strength: I was sick and I never saw you: I was in the prison house and you never sought to set me free.
“In as much as ye have done it to the least of these my brethren, you have done it unto me” ~Jesus Christ
Who can have compassion? Who?
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One morning an elderly man was walking on a nearly deserted beach. He came upon a boy surrounded by thousands and thousands of starfish. As eagerly as he could, the youngster was picking them up and throwing them back into the ocean.
Puzzled, the older man looked at the young boy and asked, “Little boy, what are you doing?”
The youth responded without looking up, “I’m trying to save these starfish, sir.”
The old man chuckled aloud, and queried, “Son, there are thousands of starfish and only one of you. What difference can you make?”
Holding a starfish in his hand, the boy turned to the man and, gently tossing the starfish into the water, said, “It will make a difference to that one!”
“But when He (Jesus) saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd. Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest is truly plenteous, but the labourers are few; Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.” Matt 9:36-38
“…If a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray? And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep, than of the ninety and nine which went not astray. Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish.” Matt 18:12-14
O that we could see the value of just one soul. Even Jesus himself looked upon the multitudes and in His humanity knew that he alone could not meet each need. He prayed for labourers- Shepherds willing to take the time needed to help that one soul. We may not be able to reach multitudes, but if each of us took under one soul and took the time and compassion to nurture that soul, we can know that we have brought in a sheave for the Lord. We made a difference in that one life.
The multitudes… made up of individuals with different backrounds, different heartaches, needs, fears and concerns- all fainting and weary because they had no shepherd. They had no one that would guide them, care for them shelter and protect them; lead them to green pastures and cool clean water; bind up their wounds; draw them close enough to develop a lasting relationship with them.
The sheep know the voice of their shepherd. They have learned to trust him.
But a sheep with no shepherd is prey to the hungry wolves and subject to poisonous forage and wandering about looking for water… fainting and weary.
When Jesus looks upon a soul, he looks past their sin-stained life, their dirty unkempt garment. What does he see? A beloved lamb!
See Him tenderly take the lamb up in his arms and carry it close to His bosom; a place of compassion, love and affection. See Him carry the dying sheep home to the rest of the fold, washing his fleece, pouring ointment into it’s wounds and binding him up. See him carefully introducing the new and healthful food, a little at a time till he has the strength to eat more. See him leading the lamb to the cool, clear water. The little lamb is scared and insecure. The rest of the flock is healthy and strong; but this little lamb is skinny and wounded from wandering about. Yet he is learning to trust the good Shepherd. This all feels so good. He listens for the shepherds voice. When he is afraid he runs to Him, this great-hearted caretaker. Trust is being established. Over time the lamb gets fatter and more vibrant. Soon you cannot tell that he was ever any different than the rest of the flock. But all this didn’t happen overnight. It took time, patience, labor, compassion and and vision. A vision of the value of one soul!
“But a certain Samaritan as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him. And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an Inn, and took care of him…Go and do likewise.” Luke 10:33, 34, 37
I hailed me a woman from the street, Shameless, but oh so fair!
I bade her sit in the models seat and painted her sitting there.
I his all trace of her heart unclean; I painted a babe at her breast;
I painted her as she might have been if the worst had been the best.
She laughed at my picture and went away, then came with a knowing nod,
A connoisseur, and I heard him say; “tis Mary the mother of God”…
By R. W. Service
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Dear Lord,
Show me, whose heart can I ease?
A story is told of a King who went into his garden one morning, and found everything withered and dying. He asked the oak that stood near the gate what the trouble was. He found it sick of life and determined to die because it was not tall and beautiful like the pine. The pine was all out of heart because it could not bear grapes, like the vine. The vine was going to throw its life away because it could not stand erect and have as fine a fruit as the peach tree. The geranium was fretting because it was not tall and fragrant like the lilac; and so on all through the garden. Coming to a heartease, he found its bright face lifted as cheery as ever. “Well, heartease, I’m glad, amidst all this discouragement, to find on brave little flower. You do not seem to be the least disheartened.”
“No, I am not of much account, but I thought that if you wanted an oak, or a pine, or a peach tree, or a lilac, you would have planted one; but as I knew you wanted a heartease, I am determined to be the best little heartease that I can.”
If thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as noon day. And the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not. Isaiah 58:10-11
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What have any of us suffered that the LORD Jesus Christ did not go before us and suffer first!
“For He shall grow up before him as a TENDER plant, and as a root out of a DRY ground: He hath no form nor comliness; and when we see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him.
He is DESPISED and REJECTED of men; a man of sorrows, and aquainted with GRIEF: and we hid as it were our faces from Him; he was DESPISED, and we esteemed Him not.
Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
But He was WOUNDED for our transgressions, he was BRUISED for our iniquities: the CHASTISEMENT of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own was; and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
He was OPPRESSED, and He was AFFLICTED, yet He opened not His mouth: He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before His shearers is dumb, so He opened not His mouth.” (Isaiah 53: 2-7)
”For in that He Himself suffered being tempted, He is able to succour them that are tempted” Heb 2:18
Christ’s Suffered:
Physical Poverty- Luke 2:7, Luke 9:58
Physical Hunger- Matt 4:2, Matt 12:1
Temptation- Matt 4:3-10, Mark 8:11, Mark 10: 2
Persecution- Mark 3: 6, Mark 5: 40, Mark 7:2, Mark 12: 13
False Accusations- Mark 3:22, 30, Mark 14:55-59, Mark 15:3
Rejection- Mark 5: 17, Mark 6: 2-5, Luke 4: 28-29
Betrayal- Mark 14: 10-11, 43-45
Sorrow- Mark 14:34
Friends forsaking him- Mark 14:50, 66-71
Usurption of His authority- John 10:8, John 18: 33-40
Condemnation- Mark 14: 64
Physical Abuse- Mark 14:65, 15: 17-20
Mockery- Mark 15: 29-32
Forsaken of God- Mark 15:34
Being tortured and Killed- Mark 15: 13, 25, 37
And for those who have suffered sexual abuse, consider this- they nailed Christ naked on that cross- he had no cloth as portrayed out of reverence in pictures.
“In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer: Ihave overcome the world.” – Jesus (John 16:33)
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Communion with God is a wonderful gift, an infinite blessing, and an enormous privilege. It is also the very point of attack from the enemy of our souls, the devil.
The first man and woman enjoyed a close communion with God, but Satan was successful in severing that communion and they became estranged from God by sin. (Genesis 3)
Now in these last days we have a Savior, the LORD JESUS CHRIST, who reconciles us to God through his sacrifice. “…Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood.” Revelations 1:5 “But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ…For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.” Ephesians 2:13, 18
God wants to communicate with us and us to communicate with him. He desires a very close and intimate relationship with us. Paul admonishes us in 1 Thess 5:17 to “pray without ceasing.”
Abraham was called a friend of God and God often visited with Abraham. But today God wants an even closer relationship with us than that of Abraham. God has chosen to come and to live within our hearts. “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?” 1 Corinthians 3:16 He has chosen us to be his bride. “…for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.” 2 Corinthians 11:2
So, when we have been saved and sanctified, we now have God within and hence the admonition to “pray without ceasing”. We must bring in our heart, soul, mind, and strength and commune with God continually. This is the essence of a true salvation experience. It is a marriage relationship with God through his Son, Jesus Christ. A marriage relationship is not a casual relationship but a serious covenant that has been made between two individuals. The vows made should never be taken lightly.
Imagine a marriage where the wife casually takes the name of her husband because she believes he has something that will benefit her somehow. She moves into his house and takes over, doing whatever she feels like, never consulting with him. She simply “checks in” with him in the morning and in the evening, lets him know that she appreciates all he gave her, and proceeds to give him a list of what she now needs. This is the only time she ever talks to him. She ignores him the rest of the day and night. It would not be very long before she would lose his heart and he would go looking for someone with whom he could have a relationship with.
This is exactly how many people treat their relationship with God.
To be just religious and take God’s name to yourself and then go about life not hardly thinking about God, much less communicating with him, is not salvation. If you were ever saved and you continue on that way, you will one day be looking for God and find that he has departed. “I opened to my beloved; but my beloved had withdrawn himself, and was gone: my soul failed when he spake: I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer.” Song 5:6
Jesus taught us that we must abide in him (John 15:1-7) A branch on a tree cannot thrive if one minute it is grafted in, and the next it’s not- plugged in then unplugged. It needs to stay plugged in.
Life can be very busy and demanding but we need to practice bringing our thoughts back to God. Speaking to him, thinking on a verse he gave us or a lesson we learned, humming a hymn; whatever it takes to stay “plugged in”. The morning and evening time alone with God is extremely vital. As in a love relationship with a spouse, you must have those close intimate times where your focus is entirely on one another. Without that you will drift apart. But the time in-between that is so important too. You still think about one another and consider each others wishes and needs. A wife might plan her meals around the tastes of her husband and clean her house with the concern that her husband can relax when he gets home. A husband may do a special project around the home that he knows his wife will appreciate. He works hard to bring home an income with the thought of taking care of his wife. There will be discourses throughout the day.
To serve God successfully it is vital to turn our mind and heart inward to where he is dwelling and to visit with him, and love him, and worship him. The more we practice this, the easier and more natural it becomes. But it takes practice and discipline.
Communion with God is an on-going relationship. God knows every thought of our heart so we can turn our minds inward to God as often as we are reminded. We can ask, seek, love, praise and honor him all day long. We can “pray without ceasing” and we will go from victory unto victory and our love for God will grow deep and secure.
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I have posted my first official give away. I am giving away 1 lb of pumpkin fudge to one lucky winner. Click here for more details: Autumn Give-Away!
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