Trust in Him always

Found collection of sermons by Percy Ainsworth. Most are from the Psalms. Here is an excerpt from his thoughts about Ps. 62:8 - "Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge"

Faith is not an act, but an attitude; not an event, but a principle; not a last resource, but the first and abiding necessity. It is the constant factor in life's spiritual reckonings. It is the ever-applicable and the ever-necessary. It is always in the high and lasting fitness of things. There are words that belong to hours or even moments, words that win their meaning from the newly created situation. But faith is not such a word. It stands for something inclusive and imperial. It is one of the few timeless words in earth's vocabulary. For the deep roots of it and the wide range of it there is nothing like unto it in the whole sweep of things spiritual. So the 'all times' trust is not for one moment to be regarded as some supreme degree of faith unto which one here and there may attain and which the rest can well afford to look upon as a counsel of perfection. This exhortation to trust in God at all times concerns first of all the nature of faith and not the measure of it. All real faith has the note of the eternal in it. It can meet the present because it is not of the present. We have grown familiar with the phrase, 'The man of the moment.' But who is this man? Sometimes he is very literally a man of the moment--an opportunist, a gambler with the hours, a follower of the main chance. The moment makes him, and passing away unmakes him. But the true man of the moment is the man to whom the moment is but one throb in the pulse of eternity. For him the moment does not stand out in splendid isolation. It is set in its place between that which hath been and that which shall be. And its true significance is not something abiding in it, but something running through it. So is it in this great matter of faith. Only the faith that can trust at all times can trust at any time. The moment that faith heeds the dictation of circumstance it ceases to be faith and becomes calculation. All faith is transcendent. It is independent of the conditions in which it has to live. It is not snared in the strange web of the tentative and the experimental. He that has for one moment felt the power of faith has got beyond the dominion of Time.

Click here to download the entire collection. 

Jesus Isn’t Contained in Our Boxes

Read a post today by Frank Viola.  He mentions the road to Emmaus, so I thought I'd had it here.

Do you remember the disciples who walked on the road to Emmaus? Their hopes were shattered by Jesus’ horrible death. Suddenly, the resurrected Christ began walking beside them, yet their eyes were blinded from recognizing Him.
However, when He engaged in the very simple gesture of breaking bread (something He had done frequently before them), their eyes were opened.
He then quickly disappeared from their sight.
These stories hold a critical insight. You cannot cling to the Christ you know today. He will vanish from your midst. Jesus Christ is an elusive Lover. Seeking Him is a progressive engagement that never ends. He doesn’t dance to our music. He doesn’t sing to our tune.

Click here to read the entire post.

May our God box be forever expanding.  After devoting most of his life to spreading the gospel, the apostle Paul still wanted to know Christ more. Amen!!

Knowledge vs Relationship

A follow-up on my last post...

The disciples on the road to Emmaus were given the same choice as Adam and Eve. The same choice we are given everyday. Do we desire knowledge about God or a relationship with God.  Adam and Eve chose knowledge. The disciples desired more and even though Jesus had shown them many things from the scriptures, they compelled him to stay. This is when he sat with them, broke the bread, blessed it, and revealed himself.

I pray to make this decision every minute of every day.

Jesus Himself

Recently I stumbled upon a "new" author.  New to me, but he lived over 100 years ago.  Andrew Murray was a South African writer, teacher, and Christian Pastor. Murray considered missions to be "the chief end of the church."

His book Jesus Himself was amazing nugget to find.  The first part is a message which originally appeared in the South African Pioneer, the organ of the "Cape General Mission". In it he retells the story of the disciples on the road to Emmaus.  He says there are four stages of the heart that can be seen here.  

The first is a heart full of sadness.  This was due to the death of Jesus and the idea of who they wanted him to be.

The second stage is a heart slow to believe.  When Jesus joined them and asked why they were sad, they told him the news.  He replied "Oh! fools, and slow of heart to believe."

The third stage is a burning heart. Jesus began to open the Scriptures to them, and to tell them of all the wonderful things the prophets had taught. Then their eyes were opened, and they began to understand the Scriptures.  Later they said "How our hearts burned within us..."

Murray says "The disciples had had a blessed experience of His divine powers, but He had not revealed Himself, and oh! how often it is that at Conventions and in churches, and in meetings and in blessed fellowship with God's saints, our hearts burn within us. These are precious experiences of the working of God's grace and Spirit, and yet there is something wanting. What is that?"

It is the final stage a satisfied heart.

Perhaps you have arrived at the stage of the burning heart, and can tell of many blessed experiences, but somehow there is a worm at the root. The experiences do not last, and the heart is so changeable.   You know the story.  Their hearts were burning as they drew nigh to the place they were going to, and Christ made as if He were going farther. He put them to the test, and if they had allowed Him quietly to go on, if they had been content with the experience of the burning heart, they would have lost something infinitely better. But they were not content with it. They were not content to go home to the disciples that night and say, "Oh, what a blessed afternoon we have had! What wonderful teaching we have had!" No! The burning heart and the blessed experience just made them say, "Lord, abide with us," and they compelled Him to come in. They constrained Him to come in.

And what is to make a difference between Christ's disciples--not those who are just hoping to get to heaven, but Christ's whole-hearted disciples--what is to make a difference between them and other people? It is this, to be in fellowship with Jesus--every hour of the day; and just as Christ upon earth was able to keep those people with Him for three years, day by day, so Christ is able in heaven now to do what He could not do when He was on earth--to keep in the closest fellowship with every believer throughout the whole world.

Amen!!  May this be our prayer - "Lord abide with us"

Balancing our lives

This morning's reading from Proverbs 16. Several verses spoke of our path and plans we can make. It shows a balance between our freedom to make decisions and God's working in our lives.

3 Put your works into the hands of the Lord, and your purposes will be made certain. 4 The Lord has made everything for his purpose... 7 When a man's ways are pleasing to the Lord, he makes even his haters be at peace with him. . 9 A man may make designs for his way, but the Lord is the guide of his steps.

El Classico

One of the first things I learned when arriving at the CSM school to teach was you have to pick whether you will pull for Real Madrid or Barcelona.  Yes, I am in Iraq and yes those are two football teams from Espana.  However, every student, and most nationals, will ask "Mister, Real or Barcelona... Real or Barcelona!!"  For the first couple of days, I had no idea what they were talking about.  Now that I do, I still don't have a favorite.  If the Steelers or the Tarheels don't make the list, I check out.  That's the extent of my sports enthusiasm... and to this day I don't even have a jersey or a Terrible Towel.  I like to watch sports, but "fanatic", I am not.

So when I was asked the other day about going to a local café to view the match between Real Madrid and Barcelona, known by most locals as "El Classico", my response was close to "meh".  However, a new American teacher had just arrived from Barcelona and his wife is from there.  When I say he just arrived, I mean he arrived in Iraq just 2 days before and knows very little about the city, the culture, or the language.  But I agreed to take him to the place where just last year there were several eruptions after Barcelona and Real Madrid lost games.  One such eruption had a lot of shouting, horns honking, and apparent happy gun fire (into the air presumably).   Now just in case you missed something, one of those teams was about to lose again.

Now since this is an Islamic area of town, this was not a bar, but a café.  No alcohol was present, but there was a lot of hookah going on… I just have to assume you know what that is.  It was very smoky and most seats were occupied.  A quick glance, lead me to believe I didn’t know anyone there, so we found one of the two empty couches and turned one around to face the closer TV.  The attendant came over and we ordered two orange Fantas.  I know, right?  No hookah, please.

We arrived late in the first half and no goals had been scored by either team.  Another glance around the room, and we were both pretty sure the crowd was mixed with supporters of either team sitting together – one had the colors from Real and the guy next to him was draped in a Barcelona flag.  So we felt at ease with the seats we had chosen.  Of course very soon, upon arriving we were asked the big question… “Mister, Real or Barcelona.”  Since my new friend had just arrived from there, we, of course, said, “Barcelona”.  My friend was quite the celebrity when word got around of his recent travels.  So again, more ease surrounded our presence.  We were asked who we thought would win and what the final score would be.  No betting, of course, but we offered our opinions.

The amount of supporters for either team became evident when Ronaldo for Real scored the first goal during the second half and maybe a minute later Barcelona scored.  The abundance and volume of the cheers heavily favored Barcelona.  Did I mention, we were feeling at ease?  Adding to this was the fact that several guys approached our couch after recognizing me in the crowd.  Not sure how they would have noticed me among so many, but the greetings were unexpected and very pleasant.  One was the brother of a local merchant whose market we frequent often.  The other had seen me working with my construction friends.  Another guy seated in front of us had very good English and after about an hour asked if I lived nearby.  I said, “Yes”.  He knew I had looked familiar to him.  You would think that would make me feel uneasy, but that is why we walk everywhere and visit all the markets we can.  We actually do want to be known among the nationals.

My American friend had a great time.  He is bigger sports enthusiast and even though an American, loves football… er, soccer.  The time was very enjoyable, I must admit.  The banter between fans was great and some singing commenced a few times.  I don’t know enough of the language, but it seemed positive.  Barcelona scored twice more to Real only scoring once more.  When time expired the place emptied without incident.  The Real fans were a bit downcast, but were still good sports.

Oh yeah… I failed to mention that the game began around 11:30p and we were walking home around 1:30a.  They play again next week sometime… I am sure we will try to repeat.

Gideon's 300

I have been meditating on the story of Gideon lately.  As a challenge to those who support our journey to Northern Iraq, I have mentioned Gideon's 300 because we need 300 gifts of $100 to meet our budget for the next 10 months.  To date we need 240 more gifts.

Here are some thoughts from the story:

• The angel told Gideon, "The LORD is with you..." (ch 6 v 12)
• Gideon questioned the presence and calling of the LORD.
• The LORD said, "I will be with you..." (v 16)
• God was patient ("I will wait..." v 18) and gave Gideon several signs to give him confidence.
• We are so thankful for God's presence and calling on our lives.  He has shown us patience and, upon reflection, has given us many signs as confirmation.
• God said to reduce the number of men so they would not boast in their efforts. (ch 7 v 2)
• Those who were fearful, were given the chance to go home.
• There were still too many men, so a random test was given and Gideon's army was reduced to just 300 men.
• Sometimes my plans are not God's plans.  He chooses to work in His timing and His ways.  We desire many to go "with" us on this journey, but God reveals himself, His power, in the few.
• Gideon was given the opportunity to further increase his faith by hearing a dream from the enemy.
• There have been many stories relayed to us about Muslims having dreams about Jesus.  We pray God will speak to our friends and neighbors in this way.
• The Ephraimites complained, "Why didn't you call us..." to help?
• We are trying to ask all we know to get involved.  All cannot help financially, but there are many ways to be a part of what God is doing in Kurdistan.
• The men of Succoth refused to help. "You're on a wild goose chase; why should we help you on a fool's errand?" (ch 8 v 6 MSG)
• Many have asked if we are crazy.  Some have actually refused to support our going.  We agree that it is crazy.  However, as Katrina, was told, "If something doesn't seem natural, it might just be supernatural."

So, how can you help?  

How can someone you know help?  

How can a small group that you are a part of help?

Winchester Family Financial Needs:

$850 per month rent in Kurdistan

   (our landlord expects 3 months at a time; $2550 four

    times a year)

    Our next rent payment is due September 1st

$1,000 estimated cost for Kate’s braces

     We have had most of the work done here, but she

     needs the bottom brackets while we are in Iraq

$1,000 monthly living costs

SOME ESTIMATED MONTHLY COSTS:

• $65 for taxi fare
• $100  for phone service and internet
• $400 for groceries
• $50 for generator electricity
• $50 for prescription medication
• $100 for dining out
• $40 for clothing/shoes

To the right, there are links for donate via credit card or print a mail-in support form.

Saw this and had to share.
It is a humbling responsibility you give us.

Opus Dei Cum Pecunia Alienum Efficemus
- "Doing God's Work With Other People's Money"