Remembrance of Memorial Day: No Greater Love hath any Man

On Memorial Day we are reminded of what our forefathers, friends, relatives have done in laying down their lives so that we may be free. Jesus who paid the ultimate price said in John 15:13 “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” (NIV) Jesus died so that we may be free of the tyranny that sin had brought down on Mankind.

Also reminded of the Gettysburg Address that was delivered by Lincoln during the American Civil War, on the afternoon of Thursday, November 19, 1863, at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, four and a half months after the Union armies defeated those of the Confederacy at the decisive Battle of Gettysburg. Here is a portion of that address:

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate, we can not consecrate, we can not hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

There is unfinished work that this country has before us and are we willing to give the full measure of devotion and not let the past die in vain. And so on Memorial Day, we pause to remember the lives and contributions made by those we have loved and still do. It's not so much about the grave as the person. "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints" (Psalm 116:15).

by Jeremiah Williamson

Are We Limiting God?

Based on Psalm 78

There has been many times in our lives that we have limited God. We get off the path, follow our own ways, or may not be living a life of faith. The story may even go something like this.

How many of you and be honest, practice high speed skidding. Go at a high rate of speed and deliberately put your vehicle in a skid, working the brakes and steering wheel to rectify the situation and come to a complete safe stop. No injuries to yourself or others you escape unscathed. You practice this every day for a couple of years so it becomes second nature to you. If you find yourself in a situation say on a highway and have to stop suddenly then you would have the where withal to end up in a good situation.

The problem is that we don’t practice high speed skidding, but we all drive like we have. How many times have we, or seen others driving 70mph in back of someone’s bumper. Then one day they find themselves in a hospital wondering what happened to them. Scratching their heads and saying “why did this happen to me?”

In Psalm 78 is the story of how God wanted to protect His people. He provided great miracles for them, crossing the Red Sea, giving food to them, providing heating (pillar of fire at night) and air conditioning for them (cloud by day). But the Israelites became obstinate and would not want to follow after God’s way. It says in verse 41 (KJV) that they limited the Holy One of Israel.

It is as if God said today, keep your distance while driving, have a time interval between you and the next vehicle. Don’t drive past the speed limit, that way you are under the protection of inertia, response time, stopping distance for braking, and loving your neighbor by not going faster in a given situation to cause someone else harm.

If we disobey those laws that govern our earth then one day we will wake up in a hospital wondering what happened. When you practice driving to close and do it on a daily basis you instill the wrong way of driving so that it becomes second nature. That is why you become an accident waiting to happen. In life it is the same way, when we constantly do something wrong it will catch up to you, you will be a bad situation waiting to happen. We limit God in the process because God cannot overcome the very laws he put in place. Jesus came to die on the cross but to also to show us how to walk as Christians. It would behoove us to go against those principles that Jesus laid out for us to walk in.

One of the main ingredients in following Jesus is faith. By not having faith to step out in what God wants us to do we also limit God. We cannot please God without faith Heb 11:6. How many times has God spoken to you about something, or was trying to guide you through and you did not follow up on it. That is limiting God what He can accomplish in your life. The old hymn Trust and Obey for there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey. Trusting and obeying Jesus will not limit God.

Don’t be like the Israelites who went against what God was trying to accomplish through them. Don’t limit God, follow after Jesus and live a life of faith.

By G Jeremiah Williamson http://christianworldperspective.blogspot.com

King of the Hill

In Maine we make our own mountains. Southern Maine lacks this natural terrain, so when the winter snows fall we build mountains by plowing the snow into huge piles. Maybe they are impressive only to schoolchildren, but schoolchildren make the most of these piles with a game called “King of the Hill.” It is a simple but furious game. Each child scrambles to the top of the hill. The first one there is king and defends against all attackers. This will include pushing, pulling, hitting, and sometimes kicking, and an eventual tumble down the hill, only to look up and see someone else is the new “King of the Hill.”

Psalms 24 suggests that “ascending the hill of the Lord” (vs. 3) is quite different from playing “King of the Hill.” When Jesus ascends, the psalmist cries for the gates to open to receive the “King of Glory” (v. 7). The Lord Jesus is “King of the Hill” forever. He alone is perfectly clean and pure (v. 4). He is the Lord of hosts.
And as we approach the throne, we do not find Jesus ready to repel our advances. Rather, he invites us to join him. He promises that, “I will be [their] God, and [they] will be my [people]” (Rev. 21:7). His blood makes us clean (1 John 1:7). We can follow the ways of the world and struggle to exalt ourselves or we can “humble [ourselves] before the Lord, and he will exalt [us]” (James 4:10).

Encouragement in a discouraging world

If you haven’t noticed that we live in a negative world, you haven’t been paying attention. I minister to people all the time who are discouraged, not over personal problems, but just because of the negative things that are going on in the world. They seldom recognize the effect their environment and other people are having on them.

Jesus certainly understood the power of a negative environment. When He raised people from the dead, He always sought seclusion. He kicked all the unbelievers out because He knew their unbelief could affect the results. In the sixth chapter of Mark, we read that even Jesus could do no mighty works in His hometown because of their unbelief. And Jesus always operated in faith.

So how do you stay positive in a negative world? Let's start by using these verses from Joshua.

“There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. Be strong and of a good courage: for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land, which I sware unto their fathers to give them. Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest” (Josh. 1:5-7).

Here the Lord was speaking to Joshua, who was taking over for Moses, a hard act to follow. The Lord told him, “Moses is dead. Now you go.” Then He told Joshua to be strong and of good courage and not to be afraid or dismayed. These are opposing forces. If you are afraid and dismayed, then you are not strong and of good courage. They counteract each other. So you’ve got to do two things and resist two things.

“There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee.” By emphasizing this, God was promising Joshua that if he would be strong and of good courage, nothing would prevent His will from being accomplished through Joshua’s life.

The Lord doesn’t automatically do things for you—He flows through you, and if you get discouraged or dismayed, you stop the process. It says in Ephesians 3:20,

“Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us.”

The phrase “according to” means in proportion to, or to the degree of, the power that is working in us. God flows through people. If we become discouraged, we stop the flow of God’s power.

Here’s another example: In 1 Samuel we read the story of a terrible situation that David was facing. His father-in-law, Saul, was trying to kill him. He had been persecuted and running for his life every day for thirteen years. And now, all his possessions had been burned, his wives and all of the wives and children of his men had been taken, and his own men wanted to stone him. Not a great environment! Yet 1 Samuel 30:6 says,

“And David was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters: but David encouraged himself in the LORD his God.”

Things looked bleak, David was in a situation where everything in the natural said “be discouraged and be afraid,” but David encouraged himself in the Lord. Do you know how he did it? He took the Word and began to encourage himself, and it was only a matter of hours before what God had promised him came to pass and he became king. If he would have given in at that last minute, he would have lost.

Brothers and sisters, there are a lot of people today who stand for a period of time and then quit. It’s like there are limits on how long they’re going to believe God. You might be thinking, Well, how long am I supposed to stand? The answer is simple: You stand until it works, until you’re encouraged. You just don’t ever give up.

If you say “Here’s the line. I’m only going to go this far,” I can guarantee you Satan is sharp enough to figure out where the line is and push you past that point. But when you say “I’m not quitting, ever. I’m never going to give up,” it makes a huge difference in the results you get. This is what God was telling Joshua: “Be strong and of good courage, no matter what.”

You need to recognize that Satan is using the evil and negative things of this world to discourage you, even if they are not affecting you personally. You can get discouraged watching politics, reading the newspaper, and listening to the news. If you don’t resist this, it will cause you to be discouraged and dismayed, and worst of all, your love for God will grow cold (Matt. 24:12). You have to choose to be encouraged—to encourage yourself in the Lord.

The Bible says in Isaiah 26:3 that the Lord will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are stayed upon Him because they trust in Him. Our peace is linked directly to what we think upon. We are plugged into this world like no group of Christians has ever been—reading, listening, and watching the same ungodliness as the world and then wondering why we get the same results. It’s simple: Garbage in, garbage out.

The Scripture says to Submit to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you (James 4:7). The classic example of failure to do this is in Numbers 13. Moses sent his men to spy out the Promised Land. The land was so prosperous that one clump of grapes had to be put on a pole and carried between two men. The report came back that it was a land flowing with milk and honey, but also that there were giants in the land.

Caleb and Joshua had a good report:

“And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it” (Num. 13:30).

But the other ten spies had a negative report:

“But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we” (Num. 13:31).

Ten out of the twelve were convinced they couldn’t do it—they saw the negative side of everything. Only two of them believed God.

Look at what happened later on, in Joshua, chapter two, after Moses had died, and the children of Israel were finally ready to enter the Promised Land. They sent two spies to Jericho to check out its defenses. A harlot named Rahab took them into her home, and here’s what she said in Joshua 2:9 and 11,

“I know that the LORD hath given you the land, and that your terror is fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you…And as soon as we had heard these things, our hearts did melt, neither did there remain any more courage in any man, because of you: for the LORD your God, he is God in heaven above, and in earth beneath.”

When Joshua and Caleb said in Numbers 14 “their defence is departed from them” (Num. 14:9), they were right; that’s exactly what Rahab confirmed. If the Israelites would have encouraged themselves in the Lord and obeyed God, they never would have spent forty years in the wilderness, and the generation that came out of the land of Egypt would not have died in the wilderness.

Unless you have a deliberate plan to encourage yourself in the Lord, you aren’t going to be encouraged. It is not normal to be encouraged; it’s normal to be discouraged. It’s abnormal to be strong and of good courage, but it is certainly doable. God’s Word will tell you exactly how to do it. Keep on reading God's word, only true encouragement comes from Him.