RE: Ginny's Place: Life, Struggles, Joys, Praise, Thoughts
View related threads:
(in this forum
| in all forums)
|
Logged in as: Guest
|
|
Users viewing this topic:
none
|
|
Login  | |
|
RE: Ginny's Place: Life, Struggles, Joys, Praise, Thoughts - 5/6/2008 2:33:02 PM
|
|
|
Anisavta
Posts: 707
Joined: 1/20/2008
From: Northern CA
Status: offline
|
quote:
This week I have been having trouble with exhaustion. The bankruptcy is finally getting filed, the job review has been done and the visits to a dying neighbor are all coming down on me emotionally.
Hang in there Ginny! You are doing good.
After we have a period of time where our adrenaline is pumping and then it settles back down, the body goes into a state of exhaustion and depression. It's that leveling off period.
Dr Archibald Hart
I have found this author very good and when I was going thru my anxiety period his books helped.
_____________________________
Life is uncertain - eat dessert first!
B'rachot,
Marsha
|
|
|
|
|
RE: Ginny's Place: Life, Struggles, Joys, Praise, Thoughts - 5/10/2008 12:08:35 AM
|
|
|
vmginny
Posts: 632
Joined: 3/31/2006
Status: offline
|
Marsha, thanks for your comments. I believe you are right. Made me think of Elijah after the confrontation with the pagan priests. How he ran off when he found out Jezebel said she would have him killed.
There is a store in our town that is a pie store with fresh baked pies that are sumptuous. I splurged and bought a WHOLE mind you Coconut Cream Pie. This pie is 4 inches deep, 3 inches for the cream area and 1 inch of meringue topping. Hubby and I had a nice healthy piece and as we were finishing a knock came on the door.
I answered the door and there was my neighbor I have been visiting whose wife is my friend and is dying of cancer. Seems he saw the glass guy at our house, our van has been gone all day and his wife was concerned for some reason that my hubby might be in the hospital and sent him over to investigate. I said, "No, He's right here but would you like to see my new sun roof?" I take him into the dining room to show him the nice new open area we have for a door.
Yesterday my 15 year old son and my 12 year old grandson were playing ball and the ball hit the patio door breaking the glass in a million pieces. The glass man said because of how the door is the double pane of glass could not be replaced and we would need to buy a new door. We are going to get a board to nail to it as the money for an expense this great is not available to us.
Anyway, I offer some of the pie to my neighbor and he stood and talked with it in his hand on a paper plate. While we are talking and visiting I keep offering for him to sit down and put the plate down and he said, "No, No! I am hanging on to this pie! It looks too good to let go." I got a tickle out of him and his possessiveness with the pie. I gave him enough for he and his wife to have a healthy slice. Then he invited me over to visit them and read the bible to them.
After he left, hubby and I went down for naps. I woke up before hubby and went over to the neighbors with my bible. I had been invited to read the Word and I wasn't gonna let an opportunity to share it pass by. The TV is on and both were getting up from their own naps. I watch a little TV, talk a little. Both get called on the phone. I wait. Then while the wife is still on the phone, a second phone call while I was waiting, the husband asks if I could start reading the Word and I said, "Sure, if we can turn off the TV." and he said, "I could turn it down." and I said, "No, I would like to turn it off." so he said, "Sure, that's fine."
I've found in the past with the TV on the attention can be drawn away from what I am reading and I didn't want this. I wanted a good time of the Lord communicating with us through his Word. I always pray first that God will bless us with what He wants us to know from His Word as we read it.
So I start to read, the wife is on the phone with their 18 year old daughter. I chose Collosians as that is where my minister was preaching from on Sunday and I really like his message. I read Collosians chapter one and then discuss it a little with the husband then I ask if he wanted me to continue and he said, "yes, one more chapter." so I did. I read Collosians chapter two. I was real glad I chose Collosians as it delve into a deep discussion about who Christ is, the gospel message and our relationship with the Lord, where we stand as believers and what it is Christ did for us.
The wife is off the phone and tells me that her daughter told her to stop talking because she could hear me reading and it was like I was standing right there in front of her and she wanted to hear what I was reading. I knew God was in that room and was blessing the people there, all of us, including the daughter on the phone.
Meanwhile, my hubby is flashing the lights from our home and my neighbor notices. Seems hubby was getting lonely from me being gone so long.
I've been invited back tomorrow night to read more in Collosians.
Ginny
_____________________________
Mark 10:27
Looking at them, Jesus *said, “ With people it is impossible, but not with God; for all things are possible with God.”
|
|
|
|
|
RE: Ginny's Place: Life, Struggles, Joys, Praise, Thoughts - 5/10/2008 12:16:35 AM
|
|
|
leah777
Posts: 3257
Joined: 4/12/2005
From: Show-Me State
Status: offline
|
Wow, Ginny! This is so wonderful how they have taken to you and seem to want you there reading the Bible to them -- and now the daughter is intereted too. Yes, God was there, and is there -- with you, blessing you and using you to reach them. And I know you're receiving a blessing from this in return. With all the stress in your life, this just seems to be a strong reminder that God is still very much in control and will see you through whatever is to come.
{{{{{{{{{{GINNY}}}}}}}}}}}
_____________________________
Leah
|
|
|
|
|
RE: Ginny's Place: Life, Struggles, Joys, Praise, Thoughts - 5/10/2008 12:53:29 AM
|
|
|
magdaleine
Posts: 4927
Joined: 4/11/2005
Status: offline
|
Ginny, that is INCREDIBLE! God has certainly given you a gift. And look at your confidence! Four months ago you would not have insisted the TV be turned off. You wouldn't have even been reading the Bible toyour neighbour. Wow! God is using you in a mighty way. I don't know where he's leading you but he's leading you somewhere good, I know that.
_____________________________
Maggie
|
|
|
|
|
RE: Ginny's Place: Life, Struggles, Joys, Praise, Thoughts - 5/10/2008 10:42:07 AM
|
|
|
vmginny
Posts: 632
Joined: 3/31/2006
Status: offline
|
2 Kings 18: 1-6
Now it came about in the third year of Hoshea, the son of Elah king of Israel, that Hezekiah the son of Ahaz king of Judah became king.
He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem; and his mother's name was Ai the daughter of Zechariah.
He did right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father David had done. He removed the high places and broke down the sacred pillars and cut down the Asherah. He also broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the sons of Israel burned incense to it; and it was called Nehushtan.
He trusted in the LORD, the God of Israel; so that after him there was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor among those who were before him.
For he clung to the LORD; he did not depart from following Him, but kept His commandments, which the LORD had commanded Moses.
CLUNG
FOLLOWED
KEPT
Those words leaped into my mind as important.
Ginny
_____________________________
Mark 10:27
Looking at them, Jesus *said, “ With people it is impossible, but not with God; for all things are possible with God.”
|
|
|
|
|
RE: Ginny's Place: Life, Struggles, Joys, Praise, Thoughts - 5/10/2008 10:52:26 AM
|
|
|
magdaleine
Posts: 4927
Joined: 4/11/2005
Status: offline
|
Yeah. Important words. I was reading that same passage last night. What struck me about Hezekiah was that he did good that even David had failed to do. The bronze snake that Moses had made in the dessert hundreds of years before, still existed and was being worshipped. Hezekiah took it down. But why hadn't David or Samuel or any of the righteous kings that followed? So Hezekiah was very special. Maybe it was because of those words you bolded: kept, clung, followed.
_____________________________
Maggie
|
|
|
|
|
RE: Ginny's Place: Life, Struggles, Joys, Praise, Thoughts - 5/10/2008 12:49:59 PM
|
|
|
vmginny
Posts: 632
Joined: 3/31/2006
Status: offline
|
Maggie,
I believe where the words clung, followed, kept are in sequence is important too.
Because he clung, he followed, because he followed, he kept.
The first step in our life is to cling to the LORD, then we will not depart from him but follow Him and as we follow him, we will in turn keep his commandments.
The most important thing to realize is it is the LORD himself who gives us the strength to do his will.
Ginny
_____________________________
Mark 10:27
Looking at them, Jesus *said, “ With people it is impossible, but not with God; for all things are possible with God.”
|
|
|
|
|
RE: Ginny's Place: Life, Struggles, Joys, Praise, Thoughts - 5/10/2008 12:51:28 PM
|
|
|
magdaleine
Posts: 4927
Joined: 4/11/2005
Status: offline
|
Good point, Ginny.
_____________________________
Maggie
|
|
|
|
|
RE: Ginny's Place: Life, Struggles, Joys, Praise, Thoughts - 5/15/2008 6:59:48 AM
|
|
|
vmginny
Posts: 632
Joined: 3/31/2006
Status: offline
|
It's been a while since I've posted on this thread. Now where do I begin?
I've shared how I am reading the bible with my neighbor. Last night I read 1st Thessalonians, the whole book. Questions were asked and I answered them the best I could. S (the wife) wanted to know more about how the book was written and I explained that the book is a letter to the church at Thessalonia, a letter written by Paul.
I explained how Paul was a missionary after he became converted to Jesus Christ and a believer that he would journey to different cities such as Corinth, Phillipi, Thessalonia, etc. and would share the gospel and establish churches then his letters to them after he left them were complied into books of the bible. The letter to Corinth became Corinthians; the letter to Phillipi became Phillipians; and so on.
This is why the chapters of the book always begin with greetings and things such as the "Peace and grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you." Then Paul would talk about what the churches were doing right and then he would expound on things they needed to improve in or were having trouble with.
I explained that Paul would dictate the letter to a scribe. The scribe being someone who would write down his words on a leather skin called a scroll, the ink would dry then they would roll up the scroll and someone would carry the scroll to the church it was meant to go to. When the churches received their letters they would have scribes copy the scroll and then the letters would get passed on to others. These letters were eventually combined together to form part of the New Testament.
I explained that at first there was no New Testament or bible for the people to read. They read the scrolls. And it wasn't until and I forgot his name someone in Britain complied all the letters and the other parts of the bible into a whole in what we know as our bible today.
I talked about how Moses wrote the first 5 books of the bible and how the Jews today call that the "Torah" and how the Old Testament is the Jewish people's compilation of what went on with their Nation and their relationship with God. And I talked about how the New Testament books had different writers with Luke who was not one of the disciples wrote the book of Luke and how each of the gospels was written by a different author. I forgot the other book Luke wrote but said I thought it was Hebrews.
Who wrote Hebrews? Was it Acts that Luke wrote? Could someone explain who wrote each book of the bible and give me a list?
Anyway, S (the wife) said that was interesting. I didn't realize that. I would like to share with her the verse about how the bible is inspired, given for reproof, for instruction, etc. What book, chapter, verse is this from? Would someone please give me that?
We talked a little about my husband and how he resisted prayer, and my try at reading the bible to him. They asked why did he? They like the way I read and find it good to listen to me. I said that his heart is not open like their hearts are. And they said, "That's a shame." "We like hearing the Word."
I have someone at work that feels Catholics are not Christians. These neighbors are Catholics and attend mass. Maybe the way things are done in the Catholic church are different than mainstream denomination churches but I've found that people who respond to Jesus can come from any church. It is a personal response to the Lord touching and opening their hearts.
And that not all people from the denominational churches have this response to the Lord. I've met people who attend a Christian denominational church who are closed to hearing the Lord and instead think like the Jews did in Jesus's time and are hung up on tradition, law, and ritual.
Only the Lord knows who are His. It is not for us to judge.
Ginny
_____________________________
Mark 10:27
Looking at them, Jesus *said, “ With people it is impossible, but not with God; for all things are possible with God.”
|
|
|
|
|
RE: Ginny's Place: Life, Struggles, Joys, Praise, Thoughts - 5/15/2008 7:40:05 AM
|
|
|
vmginny
Posts: 632
Joined: 3/31/2006
Status: offline
|
quote:
My husband grew up in a church family. He was forced to go to church every Sunday. The denomination his family were in is the Methodist church. I did not grow up in a church going family. My parents were not Christians but good, moral, and honest people.
My parents did take me to church when I was younger. They had both grown up in church going homes and continue this tradition at first with their own family; however, they did not read the Bible, pray with us, spoke about the Lord, or show a relationship with the living God. Instead the church attendance was a religious visit to a church. When I was 10, my father told the family that we would no longer attend church that he had decided that church was no longer for us.
I didn't find out until I was an adult the reason for his decision. Evidently, the minister had an affair with someone in the church and dad being a very morally conscious person was outraged at the hypocrisy and sin of his minister. Had dad had a foundation in the Word and a closer walk with the Lord Himself he would not have let the sin of the minister close the door for his family to receiving instruction from a church but he didn't and he saw the sin, acknowledged it and turned aside.
It was in this church that at the age of five (5) I first heard John 3:16. I remember my heart's response to this verse. It was like a spark opened up in my heart and I responded to it with, "I have a father in Heaven who loved me enough to send His son down from Heaven to die for me." I have never lost this spark and the quest to know the God who loved me this much.
Over the years I would attend church with my neighbor down the street. She went to a charismatic type church where the people lifted their hands and were emotional. I love their enjoyment in their worship. And over the years my mom would send all five of us kids to the Vacation Bible School of a Baptist church. It was during these weeks of vacation bible that I heard songs, was taught, and did crafts. This too had an influence on my life.
I spent my childhood having talks with God sharing all my childhood troubles and asking him questions. I knew Jesus died for my sins and I accepted this but I did not Know Jesus personally. My relationship with God was one of me relying on Him to hear my troubles and I did this because I absolutely believed in His love for me.
I was a good child and a good person. I did my best to be good. In my teens we moved and I went to a baptist church with the neighbor down the street. At 16 I went to the front of the church to confess my belief Jesus died for my sins, that I was a sinner and needed Him. Then I was baptized.
In college I became involved with a group called Navigators. It was an organization devoted to developing disciples. I had never read the Bible. My new friends combined together and bought me my first bible. And I began to read it. I started off with Romans and I like it best at the time. I attended retreats and heard the testimonies of other believers who were seeking God as first in their life.
But I was not a godly Christian by this I mean the world influence still had my thoughts and behaviors. It wasn't that I was immoral but by godly I mean having a renewed mind where my thoughts were coming from a center, a core of how God saw things. The readings in the Bible did show me how to make decisions on some things in my life. Forgiving others, being faithful to your husband, etc. I used the Word to apply it to life situations yet I was not yet what I call godly.
For me godly means having the center of your being firmly grounded in the rock of our salvation, in the master of creation, in who He is and what it means to be Holy as He is Holy. And it is a daily struggle to remember God in thoughts, in attitudes, in seeking Him and clinging to Him. It is a relationship. Not just one where all I do is talk about me to Him but where I am listening to Him to me. And leaning on Him, clinging to Him.
_____________________________
Mark 10:27
Looking at them, Jesus *said, “ With people it is impossible, but not with God; for all things are possible with God.”
|
|
|
|
|
RE: Ginny's Place: Life, Struggles, Joys, Praise, Thoughts - 5/15/2008 8:09:37 AM
|
|
|
leah777
Posts: 3257
Joined: 4/12/2005
From: Show-Me State
Status: offline
|
Ginny, you continue to amaze me with your knowledge of the Bible . . . . and your ability to talk so freely about it! It's so wonderful you are able to minister to the neighbors like this, and wonderful they are so accepting of the Word. As far as your question,
quote:
Who wrote Hebrews? Was it Acts that Luke wrote? Could someone explain who wrote each book of the bible and give me a list?
It's known that the same author wrote both Luke and Acts, and assumed to be Luke. The author of the book of Hebrews remains a mystery, or at least a debate  . . . . I'll leave the list to Maggie & Marsha -- they seen to be the resident Bible scholars around here. I will say, tho, that there are some books for which the author is uncertain.
Now I have to ask -- is that last post from you, or did you quote it from someone else??
_____________________________
Leah
|
|
|
|
|
RE: Ginny's Place: Life, Struggles, Joys, Praise, Thoughts - 5/15/2008 7:46:51 PM
|
|
|
vmginny
Posts: 632
Joined: 3/31/2006
Status: offline
|
It's from me Leah. I messed up and clicked the quote button.
_____________________________
Mark 10:27
Looking at them, Jesus *said, “ With people it is impossible, but not with God; for all things are possible with God.”
|
|
|
|
|
RE: Ginny's Place: Life, Struggles, Joys, Praise, Thoughts - 5/15/2008 7:53:03 PM
|
|
|
vmginny
Posts: 632
Joined: 3/31/2006
Status: offline
|
EIGHT GIFTS THAT DON'T COST A CENT
THE GIFT OF LISTENING:
But you must REALLY listen. No interrupting, no
daydreaming, no planning your response. Just listening.
THE GIFT OF AFFECTION:
Be generous with appropriate hugs, kisses, pats on
the back and handholds. Let these small actions demonstrate the love you
have for family and friends.
THE GIFT OF LAUGHTER:
Clip cartoons. Share articles and funny stories. Your
gift will say, "I love to laugh with you."
THE GIFT OF A WRITTEN NOTE:
It can be a simple "Thanks for your help" note
or a full sonnet. A brief, hand-written note may be remembered for a
lifetime, and may even change a life.
THE GIFT OF A COMPLIMENT:
A simple and sincere, "You look great in green,"
"You did a super job" or "That was a wonderful meal" can make someone's day.
THE GIFT OF A FAVOR:
Every day, go out of your way to do something kind.
THE GIFT OF SOLITUDE:
There are times when we want nothing better than to be
left alone. Be sensitive to those times and give the gift of solitude to others.
THE GIFT OF A CHEERFUL DISPOSITION:
The easiest way to feel good is to
extend a kind word to someone, really it's not that hard to say, "Hello" or
"Thank You!"
My prayer for you
is to have a wonderfully, favored, blessed and peaceful week
I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight:
I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron:
Isaiah 45:2:
_____________________________
Mark 10:27
Looking at them, Jesus *said, “ With people it is impossible, but not with God; for all things are possible with God.”
|
|
|
|
|
RE: Ginny's Place: Life, Struggles, Joys, Praise, Thoughts - 5/15/2008 9:17:42 PM
|
|
|
magdaleine
Posts: 4927
Joined: 4/11/2005
Status: offline
|
Linda's right. Luke wrote Luke and Acts. We don't know who wrote Hebrews.
Matthew, Mark, John, wrote the gospels attributed to their names.
John also wrote I, II, III John and Revelation.
Peter wrote I, II Peter.
Jude wrote Jude and
James wrote James.
Paul wrote the other NT books.
I believe that Jude and James (definitely James) were the brothers of Jesus.
Ginny, thank you for sharing part of your story. {{{{{{Ginny}}}}}}
_____________________________
Maggie
|
|
|
|
|
RE: Ginny's Place: Life, Struggles, Joys, Praise, Thoughts - 5/15/2008 10:37:11 PM
|
|
|
vmginny
Posts: 632
Joined: 3/31/2006
Status: offline
|
Thanks Maggie. Sure hope you begin to feel better soon.
_____________________________
Mark 10:27
Looking at them, Jesus *said, “ With people it is impossible, but not with God; for all things are possible with God.”
|
|
|
|
|
RE: Ginny's Place: Life, Struggles, Joys, Praise, Thoughts - 5/15/2008 10:40:41 PM
|
|
|
magdaleine
Posts: 4927
Joined: 4/11/2005
Status: offline
|
Me too, Ginny! Me too! And thanks.
_____________________________
Maggie
|
|
|
|
|
RE: Ginny's Place: Life, Struggles, Joys, Praise, Thoughts - 5/17/2008 6:53:09 PM
|
|
|
vmginny
Posts: 632
Joined: 3/31/2006
Status: offline
|
GIVE UP
Author Unknown
Give up complaining . . . focus on gratitude.
Give up pessimism . . . become an optimist.
Give up harsh judgments . . . think kind thoughts.
Give up worry . . . trust divine providence.
Give up discouragement . . . be full of hope.
Give up bitterness . . . turn to forgiveness.
Give up hatred . . . return good for evil.
Give up negativism . . . be positive.
Give up anger . . . practice patience.
Give up pettiness . . . put on maturity.
Give up gloom. . . enjoy the beauty that is all around you.
Give up jealousy . . . pray for trust.
Give up gossiping . . . control your tongue.
Give up sin. . . . turn to virtue.
Thought for the Day:
All of us could take a lesson from the weather. It pays no attention to criticism.
_____________________________
Mark 10:27
Looking at them, Jesus *said, “ With people it is impossible, but not with God; for all things are possible with God.”
|
|
|
|
|
RE: Ginny's Place: Life, Struggles, Joys, Praise, Thoughts - 5/17/2008 10:17:54 PM
|
|
|
magdaleine
Posts: 4927
Joined: 4/11/2005
Status: offline
|
That's good, Ginny. How are you doing?
_____________________________
Maggie
|
|
|
|
|
RE: Ginny's Place: Life, Struggles, Joys, Praise, Thoughts - 5/23/2008 4:02:29 PM
|
|
|
vmginny
Posts: 632
Joined: 3/31/2006
Status: offline
|
Heaven -- It's Hope
by Dwight L. Moody
A great many persons; imagine that anything said about heaven is only a matter of speculation. They talk about heaven like the air. Now there would not have been so much in Scripture on this subject if God had wanted to leave the human race in darkness about it, All Scripture, we are told, is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect - thoroughly furnished unto all good works. What the Bible says about heaven, is just as true as what it says about everything else. It is inspired. What we are taught about heaven could not have come to us in any other way but by inspiration. No one knew anything about it but God, and so if we want to find out anything about it, we have to turn to His Word. Dr. Hodge, of Princeton, says that the best evidence of the Bible being the word of God, is to be found between its own two covers. It proves itself. In this respect it like Christ, whose character proclaimed the divinity of His person. Christ showed himself more than man by what he did. The Bible shows itself more than a human book by what it says. It is not, however, because the Bible is written with more than human skill, far surpassing Shakespeare or any other human author, and that its knowledge of character and the eloquence it contains are beyond the powers of man; that we believe it to be inspired.
Men's ideas differ about the extent that human skill call go; but the reason why we believe the Bible is inspired, is so simple that the humblest child of God can comprehend it. If the proof of its divine origin lay in its wisdom alone, a simple and uneducated man might not be able to believe it. We believe it is inspired, because there is nothing in it that could not have come from God. God is wise, and God is good. There is nothing in the, Bible that. is not wise, and there is nothing in it that is not good. If the Bible had anything in it that was opposed to reason, or to our sense of right, then, perhaps, we might think that it was like all the books in the world that are written merely by me. Books that are just human books, like merely human lives, have in them a great deal that is foolish and a great deal that is wrong. The life of Christ alone was perfect, being both human and divine, Not one of the other volumes, like the Koran, that claim divinity of origin, agree with common sense. There is nothing at all in the Bible that does not conform to common sense. What it tells us about the world having been destroyed by a deluge, and Noah and his family alone being saved, is no more wonderful than what is being taught in the schools, that all of the earth we see now, and everything upon it came out of a ball of fire. It is a great deal easier to believe that, man was made after the image of God, than it is to believe, as some young men and women are being taught now, that he was once a monkey.
Like all the other wonderful works of God, this Book bears the sure stamp of its author. It is like Him. Though man plants the seeds, God makes the flowers, and they are perfect and beautiful like Himself. Men wrote what is in the Bible, but the work is God's. The more refined, as a rule, people are, the fonder they are of the flowers, and the better they are, as a rule, the more they love the Bible.
The fondness for flowers refines people, and the love of the Bible makes them better. All that is in the Bible about God, about man, about redemption, and about a future state, agrees with our own ideas of right, with our reasonable fears and with our personal experiences. All the historical things are told in the way that we know the world had of looking at them when they were written. What the Bible tells about heaven is not half so strategic as what Professor Proctor tells about the hosts of stars that are beyond the range of any telescope - yet people very often think that science is all fact, and that religion is only fancy. A great, many persons think that Jupiter and many more of the stars around us are inhabited, who cannot bring themselves to believe that there is a life beyond this earth for immortal souls. The true Christian puts faith before reason, and believes that reason always goes wrong when faith is set aside. If people would but read their Bibles more, and study what there is to be found there about Heaven, they would not be as worldly minded as they are. They would not have their hearts set upon things down here, but would seek the imperishable things above.
EARTH THE HOME OF SIN
It seems perfectly reasonable that God should have given us a glimpse of the future, for we are constantly losing some of our friends by death, and the first thought that comes to us is, "where have they gone?" When a loved one is taken away from us, how that thought comes up before us! How we wonder if we will ever see them again, and where and when it will be! Then it is that we turn to this blessed Book, for there is no other book in all the world that can give us the slightest comfort; no other book that can tell us where the loved ones have gone.
Not long ago I met an old friend, and as I took him by the hand and asked after his family, the tears came trickling down his cheeks as he said:
"I haven't any now."
"What," I said, is your wife dead? "
"Yes sir."
"And all your children, too?"
"Yes, all gone," he said, "and I am left here desolate and alone."
Would any one take from that man the hope, that he will meet his dear ones again? Would any one persuade. him that there. is not a future where the lost will be found? No, we need not forget our dear loved ones; but we ,fly cling forever to the enduring hope that there will be a time when we can meet unfettered, and be blest in that land of everlasting suns, where the soul drinks from the living, streams of love that roll by Gods high throne. In our inmost hearts there are none of us but have questionings of the future.
"Tell me, my secret soul,
0, tell me, Hope and Faith,
Is there no resting place,
From sorrow, sin and death?
Is there no happy spot
Where mortals may be blest,
Where grief may find a balm,
And weariness a rest?
Faith, Hope and Love - best boons to mortals given -
Waved their bright wings, and whispered:
Yes, in heaven"
There are men who say that there is no heaven. I was once talking with a man who said he thought there was nothing to justify us in believing in any other heaven than we know here on earth. If this is heaven, it is a very strange one - this world of sickness, and sorrow, and sin. I pity from the depths of my heart the man or woman who has that idea.
This world that so many think is heaven, is the home of sin, a hospital of sorrow, a place that has nothing in it to satisfy the soul. Men go all over it and then want to get out of it. The more one sees of the world the less they think of it. People soon grow tired of the best pleasures it has to offer. Some one has said that the world is a stormy sea, whose every wave is strewed with the wrecks of mortals that perish in it. Every time we breathe some one is dying. We all know that we are going to stay here but a very little while. Our life is but a vapor. It is just a mere shadow. We meet one another, as some one has said, salute one another, and pass on and are gone. And another has said, it is just inch of time, and then eternal ages roll on; and it seems to me that it is perfectly reasonable that we should study this book, to find out where we are going, and where our friends are who have gone on before. The longest time man has to live, has no more proportion to eternity than a drop of dew has to the ocean.
CITIES OF THE PAST.
Look at the cities of the past. There is Babylon. It was founded by a woman named Semiramis, who had two millions of men at work for years building it. It is nothing but dust now. Nearly a thousand years ago, some historian wrote that the ruins of Nebuchadnezzar's palace were still standing, but men were afraid to go near them because they were full of scorpions and snakes. That's the Sort of ruin that greatness often comes to in our own day. Nineveh is gone. Its towers and bastions have fallen. The traveler who tries to see Carthage, can't see much of it. Corinth, once the seat of luxury and art, is only a shapeless mass. Ephesus long the metropolis of Asia, the Paris of that day, was crowded with buildings as large as the capitol at Washington. I am told it looks more like a neglected graveyard now than anything else. Granada is now the housing place of lions and jackals. It was once very grand, with its twelve gates and towers. The Alhambra, the palace of the Mohammedan kings, was situated there. Probably the animals play with the monarchs' bones. Little pieces of the once grand and beautiful cities of Herculanaeum and Pompeii are now being sold in the shops for relics. Jerusalem, once one of the grandest cities of the universe, is but a shadow of itself. Thebes - for thousands of years, up almost to the coming of Christ, the largest and wealthiest city of the world - is now a mass of decay. Very little of Athens and many more of the proud cities of olden times, remain to tell the story of their downfall. God drives His plowshare through cities, and they are upheaved like furrows in the field. "Behold," says Isaiah, "the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance; behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing. All nations before him are as nothing, and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity."
See how Antioch has fallen! When Paul preached there it was a superb metropolis. A wide street, over three miles long, stretching across the entire city, was ornamented with rows of columns and covered galleries, and at every corner stood carved statues to commemorate their great men, whose names even we have never heard. These are never heard of now, but the poor preaching tent-maker who came into its portals, stands out as the grandest character in all history. The finest specimens of Grecian art decorated the shrines of the temples, and the baths and the aqueducts were such as are never approached in elegance now. Men then, as now, were seeking honors and wealth and mighty names, and seeking to enshrine their names and records in perishable clay. Within the walls, we are told, were enclosed mountains over seven hundred feet high, and rocky precipices and deep ravines gave wild and picturesque character to the, city of which no modern city gives us an example, These heights were fortified in a marvelous manner, which gave to them strange startling effects. The vast population of this brilliant city, combining all the art and cultivation of Greece with the levity, the luxury and the superstition of Asia, was as intent on pleasure as the population of any of our great cities are to-day. They had their shows, their games, their races and dances, their sorcerers, puzzlers, buffoons and miracle-workers, and the whole people sought constantly in the theatres and processions, for something to stimulate and gratify the most corrupt desires of the soul.
This is pretty much what we find the masses of the people in our great cities doing now. The place was even worse than Athens, for the so-called worship they indulged in was not only idolatrous, but had mixed up with it the grossest passions to which man descends. It was here that Paul it came to preach the glad tidings of Christ; it was here that his converts were first called Christians, as a nickname; the first time the name, was ever used, all followers of Christ before time having been called "saints " or "brethren." As has been well said, out of that spring at Antioch, a mighty stream has flowed to water the world. Astarte, the "Queen of Heaven," whom they worshipped; Diana, Apollo, the Pharisee and Sadusee, are no more, but the despised Christians yet live. Yet that Heathen City, which would not take Christianity to its heart and keep it, fell. Cities that have not the refining and restraining influences of Christianity well established in them, seldom do amount to much in the long ran. They grow dim in the light of ages. Few of our great cities in this country are a hundred years old as yet. For nearly a thousand years this city prospered; yet it fell.
I do not think that it is wrong for us to think and talk about heaven. I like to locate, heaven, and find out all I about it. I expect to live there through all eternity If I was going to dwell in any place in this country, if I was going to make it my home, I would want to inquire about the place, about its climate, about the neighbors I would have, and about everything in fact, that I could learn concerning it. If any of you were going to emigrate, that would be the way you would feel. Well, we are all going to emigrate in a very little while to a country that is very far away. We are going to spend eternity in another world a grand and glorious world where God reigns. Is it riot natural, then, that we should look and listen and try to find out who is already there, and what is the route to take? Soon after I was converted, an infidel asked me one day why I looked up when I prayed. He said that heaven was no more above as than below us; that heaven was everywhere. Well, I was greatly bewildered, and the next time I prayed, it seemed almost as if I was praying into the air. Since then I have become better acquainted with the Bible, and I have come to see that heaven is above us; that it is upward and not downward. The spirit of God is everywhere, but God is in heaven, and heaven is above our heads. It does not matter what part of the globe we may stand upon, heaven, is above us.
In 17th chapter of Genesis it says that God went up from Abraham; and in the 3d chapter of John, that he came down from heaven. So, in the 1st chapter of Acts we find that Christ went up into heaven (not down), and a cloud received him out of sight, Thus we see heaven is up. The very arrangement of the firmament about the earth declares the, seat of God's glory to be above us. Job says, "Let not God regard it from above," and we find the Psalmist declaring, "the Lord is high above nations, and His glory above the heavens."
Again in Deuteronomy, we find, "who shall go up for us to heaven?" Thus, all through scripture we find that we are given the location of heaven as upward and beyond the firmament. This firmament, with its many bright worlds scattered through, is so vast that heaven must be an extensive realm. Yet this need not surpass us.
It is not for short-sighted man to inquire why God made heaven so extensive that its lights along the way can be seen from any part or side of this little world.
In the 51st chapter of the prophecy of Jeremiah we are told that: He hath made the earth by his power; he hath established the world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heaven by his understanding. Yet, how little we really know of that power, or wisdom or understanding! As it says in the 26th chapter of Job: Lo, these are parts of his ways: but how little a portion is heard of him? But the thunder of his power, who can understand?
This is the word of God. As we find in the 42nd chapter of Isaiah: Thus saith God the Lord, he that created the heavens and stretched them out; he that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it; he that giveth bread unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk within. The discernment of God's power, the messages of heaven, do not always come in great things. We read in the 19th chapter of the first book of Kings:
"And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake: and after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice."
It is as a still small voice that God speaks to His children.
Some people are trying to find out just how far heaven is away. There is one thing we know about it; that is, that it is not so far away but that God can hear us when we pray. I do not believe there has ever been a tear shed for sin since Adam's fall in Eden to the present time, but God has witnessed that. He is not too far from this earth for us to go to Him; and if there is a sigh that comes from a burdened heart to-day, God will hear that sigh. If there is a cry coming up from a heart broken on account of sin, God will hear that cry, He is not so far away, heaven is not so far away, as to be inaccessible to the smallest child. In the 7th chapter and 14th verse of 2nd Chronicles, we read:
"If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sins, and will heal, their land,"
When I was in Dublin, they were telling me about a father who had lost a little boy, and he had not thought about the future, he bad been so entirely taken up with this world and its affairs; but when that little boy his only child, died, that father's heart was broken, and every night when he got home from work, they would find him with his tallow candle and his Bible in his room, and he was hunting up all that he could find there about heaven. And someone asked him what he was doing, and he said he was trying to find out where his child had gone, and I think he was a reasonable man. I suppose there is not a man or woman but has dear ones that are gone. Shall we close this book to-day? Or shall we look into it to try to find where the loved ones are? I was reading, some time ago, and account of a father, a minister, who had lost a child. He had gone to a great many funerals, offering comfort to others in sorrow, but now the iron had entered his own soul, and a brother minister had come to officiate and preach the funeral sermon; and after the minister got through speaking, the father got up, and standing right at the head of the coffin, looking at the face of that loved child that was gone, he said that a few years ago, when he had first come into that parish, as he used to look over the river he took no interest in the people over there, because they were all strangers to him and there were none over there that belonged to his parish. But, he said , a few years ago a young man came into his home, and married his daughter, and she went over the river to live, and when that child went over there, he became suddenly interested in the inhabitants, and every morning as he would get up he would look out of the window and look over there at her home. But now, said he, another child has been taken. She has gone over another river, and heaven seems dearer and nearer to me than it ever has before.
My friends, let us believe this good old Book, that heaven is not a myth, and let us be prepared to follow the dear ones who have gone before. There, and there alone, can we find the peace we seek for.
SEEKING A BETTER COUNTRY
What has been, and is now, one of the strongest feelings in the human heart? Is it not to find some better place, some lovelier spot, than we have now? It is for this that men are seeking everywhere; and yet, they can have it, if they will; but instead of looking down, they must look up to find it. As men grow in knowledge, they vie with each other more and more to make their homes attractive, but the brightest home on earth is but an empty barn, compared with the mansions that are in the skies.
What is it that we look for at the decline and close of life? Is it not some sheltered place, some quiet spot, where if we cannot have constant rest, we may at least have a foretaste of what it is to be. What was it that led Columbus, not knowing what would be his fate, across the unsailed western seas, if it was not the hope of finding a better country? This is was that sustained the hearts of the Pilgrim Fathers, driven from their native land by persecution, as they faced an iron-bound, savage coast, with an unexplored territory beyond. They were cheered and upheld by the hope of reaching a free and fruitful country, where they could be at rest and worship God in peace.
Somewhat similar is the Christian's hope of heaven, only it is not an undiscovered country, and in attractions cannot be compared with anything we know on earth. Perhaps nothing but the shortness of our range of sight keeps us from seeing the celestial gates all open to us, and nothing but the deafness of our ears, prevents our hearing the joyful ringing of the bells of heaven. There are constant sounds around us that we cannot hear, and the sky is studded with bright worlds that our eyes have never seen. Little as we know about this bright and radiant land, there are glimpses of its beauty that come to us now and then.
"We may not know how sweet its balmy air,
How bright and fair its flowers;
We may not hear the songs that echo there,
Through these enchanted bowers.
The city's shining towers we may not see
With our dim earthly vision,
For death, the silent warder, keeps the key
That opes the gates elysian.
But sometimes when adown the western sky
A fiery sunset lingers,
Its golden gate swings inward noiselessly,
Unlocked by unseen fingers.
And while they stand a moment half ajar,
Gleams from the inner glory
Stream brightly through the azure vault afar,
And half reveal the story."
It is said by travelers, that in climbing the Alps the houses of far distant villages can be seen with great distinctness, so that sometimes the number of panes of glass in a church window can be counted. The distance looks so short that the place seems almost at hand, but after hours and hours of climbing, it looks no nearer yet. This is because of the clearness of the atmosphere. By perseverance, however, the place is reached at last, and the tired traveler finds rest. So sometimes we dwell in high altitudes of grace; heaven seems very near, and the hills of Beulah are in full view. At other times the clouds and fogs that come through suffering and sin, cut off our sight. We are just as near heaven in the one case as we are in the other, and we are just as sure of gaining it if we only keep in the path that Christ has trod.
I have read that on the shores of the Adriatic sea, the wives of fishermen, whose husbands have gone far out upon the deep, are in the habit of going down to the seashore at night and singing with their sweet voices the first verse of some beautiful hymn, After they have sung it they listen until they hear brought on the wind, across the sea, the second verse sung by their brave husbands as they are tossed by the gale-and both are happy. Perhaps, if we would listen, we too might hear on this sea-tossed world of ours, some sound, some. whisper, borne from afar to tell us there is a heaven which is our home; and when we sing our hymns upon the shores of earth, perhaps we may hear their sweet echoes breaking in music upon the sands of time, and cheering the hearts of those who are pilgrims and strangers along the way. Yet we need to look up-out, beyond this low earth, and to build higher in our thoughts and actions, even here.
You know, when a man is going up in a balloon, he takes in sand as a ballast, and when he wants to mount a little higher, he throws out a little of the ballast, and then he will mount a little higher; he throws out a little more ballast, and he mounts still higher; and the higher he gets the more he throws out-and so the nearer we get to God the more we have to throw out of the things of this world. Let go of them; do not let us first set our hearts and affections on them, but do what the Master tells us_lay up for ourselves treasures in heaven. In England I was told of a lady who bad been bedridden for years. She was one of those saints that God polishes up for the kingdom; for I believe that there are a good many saints in this world that we never hear about; we never see their names heralded through the press; they live very near the Master; they live very near heaven; and I think it takes a great deal more grace to suffer God's will than it does to do God's will; and if a person lies on a bed of sickness, and suffers cheerfully, it is just as acceptable to God as if they went out and worked in his vineyard.
Now, it was One of those saints, and a lady, who said that for a long time she used to have a great deal of pleasure in watching a bird that came to make its nest near her window. One year it came to make its nest, and it began to make it so low she was afraid something would happen to the young; and every day that she saw that bird busy at work making its nest, she kept saying, "O bird, build higher!" She could that the bird was going to come to grief and disappointment. At last the bird got its nest done,, and laid its eggs and hatched its young; and every morning the lady looked out to see if the nest was there, and she saw the old bird bringing food for the little ones, and she took a great deal of pleasure in looking at it. But one morning she woke up and she looked out and she saw nothing but feathers scattered all around, and she said, "Ah, the cat has got the old bird and all its young." It would have been a mercy to have torn that nest down. That is what God does for us very often_just snatches things away before it is to late. Now, I think that is what we want to say to church people_that if you build for time you will be disappointed. God says: Build up yonder. It is a good deal better to have life in Christ and God than any where else. I would rather have my life hid with Christ in God than be in Eden as Adam was. Adam might have remained in Paradise for 16,000 years, and then fallen, but if ours is hid in Christ, how safe!
_____________________________
Mark 10:27
Looking at them, Jesus *said, “ With people it is impossible, but not with God; for all things are possible with God.”
|
|
|
|
|
RE: Ginny's Place: Life, Struggles, Joys, Praise, Thoughts - 5/23/2008 5:06:55 PM
|
|
|
magdaleine
Posts: 4927
Joined: 4/11/2005
Status: offline
|
Wow, Ginny! That was a lot!
_____________________________
Maggie
|
|
| | |
Forum Tools
Printable Version
