We Need To Pray For My & Your Friends

I've decided that "for security purposes" it might not be a good idea to post names and info and to write this one post in a different way, as you will see. But I will post a picture [above] of my friend and Church member. He was recently honored by a superior [see for yourself] and given a "coin" for a "job well done".

As you can tell from the picture my friend was very tired.

We need to pray for our service personnel and pray that the Gospel will go forth among our personnel and others.

As we remember our own personnel we must also remember Jesus exhortation to pray for our enemies. We can do that in several ways:

1. Lord, please in Your mercy, extend Your saving grace to those who are fighting against our personnel.
   
2. Lord, be merciful to sinners in saving them, just as you have been merciful in saving me.


3. Lord, for Your honor and glory, save our enemies so that Your Name may be magnified as Lord and Master, through Jesus Christ.


4. Lord, in Your grace, send people to tell others of Your saving grace. Help us to have a willingness to respond to Your calling us to tell our neighbors or those of a different land of Your saving grace.
   
5. Lord, as in the camp fires of our own Civil War, may others come to know you as Lord and Savior.

Battle Hymn of the Republic [click here to hear midi tune - here for contemporary version]

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord;
He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored;
He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword;
His truth is marching on.
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! His truth is marching on.

I have seen Him in the watch fires of a hundred circling camps
They have builded Him an altar in the evening dews and damps;
I can read His righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps;
His day is marching on.
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! His day is marching on.

I have read a fiery Gospel writ in burnished rows of steel;
“As ye deal with My contemners, so with you My grace shall deal”;
Let the Hero, born of woman, crush the serpent with His heel,
Since God is marching on.
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Since God is marching on.

He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat;
He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment seat;
Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer Him! be jubilant, my feet;
Our God is marching on.
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Our God is marching on.

In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea,
With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me:
As He died to make men holy, let us live to make men free;[originally …let us die to make men free]
While God is marching on.
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! While God is marching on.

He is coming like the glory of the morning on the wave,
He is wisdom to the mighty, He is honor to the brave;
So the world shall be His footstool, and the soul of wrong His slave,
Our God is marching on.
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Our God is marching on.

Humbled By The Truth - Total Depravity

Today, I heard a portion of a message from Proverbs by Alistair Begg which illustrated how coming to terms with the truth of our own depravity can be liberating. I encourage you to go to the link high lighted here "Warning Against Adultery, Part B Proverbs 5". At the beginning of the message Begg's quotes Ann Atkins concerning how she was and is liberated by the truth of total depravity.

When we choose to humble ourselves before God and the truth of God, then we position ourselves to receive His abundant grace. Realizing that our souls have been so stained by the power of sin that we are capable of the most vile dishonoring acts against God is the beginning place for receiving grace to live in victory over sin.

(James 4:6 NIV) But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble."

For His glory and our eternal joy in Christ,
John

If You Are Reading This

It is vital that we take time to remember those who have died for our security and freedom in this nation. To enjoy the liberties we have as a nation requires that we remember.

As we remember, let us also remember that it is the embracing of the Gospel of grace that determines if a man or woman goes to heaven. The only thing that secures a person’s eternity with God is because they have, through God’s grace, embraced the Gospel. They have bowed their knee to the Lord Jesus Christ, seen their need for a Savior because of their offending God because of their sins, believed Jesus suffered God’s wrath in their place on the cross, died and was raised from the dead.

Listen to Tim McGraw’s song, If You Are Reading This, and remember the sacrifices made for the freedoms we enjoy in this country. Remember also, our responsibility to take the Gospel to those who protect our freedom and their families.

Dear Father, as we give you thanks for the lives given for our freedom, we pray for Your comfort upon the families; may You be their light and salvation. May we extend to them Your love and the hope that is found through Your Son Jesus Christ. Bless and direct our Commander and Chief George Bush, lead our troops in their fight for freedom in Iraq and in Afghanistan. I ask Lord, that more than anything, that we’d remember You, whether on the war front, store front or home front, let us remember You. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Doing God's Will

Some of you may not be aware that I have a blog. Hopefully this blog will be a place of encouragement and edification.

I've been doing a series of messages over the past few weeks and would like your practical suggestion as to how we can really live for God in each area of focus. Your practical suggestions may be helpful to me and someone else reading the blog. If you are receiving this via email you can go directly to the blog at http://www.infiniteimmeasurablejoy.blogspot.com/. Even if you don't participate in the blog you may want to take time to write down your own action plan for living for God. Also, if you have any suggested links to other web sites that have been edifying to you please pass those along.

How do you go about practically:

1. Putting Jesus first - Luke 18:18-30?
2. Bearing fruit - Luke 8:4-15?
3. Not forgetting God - Deuteronomy 6:10-12?

For His glory and by His grace, John

Cry Out To Jesus

For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” Romans 10:13 (ESV)

I often cry out. Not the kind of cry as in “crying”. The kind of cry I am talking about is to holler for HELP.

The context of Romans 10:13 is related to the gift of salvation made available to all peoples, Jew and Gentile.

That promise is available to anyone who will respond to Jesus Christ as Lord, Master and God. Paul makes this statement knowing that the readers, many of which are Jewish would know the association related to “calling upon the name of the Lord” from the Old Testament.

The scriptures are full of cries [pleas] for God’s help. Just a general reading of Psalms provides numerous examples. These cries for help are not limited to a cry for salvation, but cries for God’s help in the various problems that the Psalmist faced.

The fact is, God’s ears are not inclined only for the cry of salvation but also for the cry of His children as they desire for His help in any and all things.

Third Day’s song Cry Out To Jesus illustrates this truth.

"Cry Out To Jesus" - Third Day (With Lyrics)

I Will Lift My Eyes

I Will Lift My Eyes by Bebo Norman

God, my God, I cry out
Your beloved needs You now
God, be near, calm my fear
And take my doubt

Your kindness is what pulls me up
Your love is all that draws me in

I will lift my eyes to the Maker
Of the mountains I can’t climb
I will lift my eyes to the Calmer
Of the oceans raging wild
I will lift my eyes to the Healer
Of the hurt I hold inside
I will lift my eyes, lift my eyes to You

God, my God, let Mercy singHer melody over me
God, right here all I bring
Is all of me

‘Cause You are and You were and You will be forever
The Lover I need to save me
‘Cause You fashioned the earth and You hold it together, God
So hold me now