Evening Song - Must I Go and Empty Handed

The story is told that a young man came to understand the gospel and confess his faith in Jesus Christ in the last month of his life. As his life was drawing fast to its close on this earth and he thought of his arrival in heaven having had so little time to serve the Lord, he is said, "I am not afraid to die. Jesus saves me now. But, oh must I go empty handed?" The story was told and a Baptist minister named Charles Luther heard the story and wrote this song. 

God is just and gives credit where credit is due. I will not be surprised if all the lives challenged by this song down through the years are partially laid to this young man's account. Perhaps he did more with his dying words than he would have done had he lived to work and serve for years. Only the Lord knows that.

Micah 6:8 He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? 

1 Corinthians 3:11-15 For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire. 

Psalm 100:2 Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing. 

I have no control over ads or suggestions.

Worship and Thanks and Blessing - A Hymn and A Story

Worship and Thanks and Blessing

Worship, and thanks, and blessing,
And strength ascribe to Jesus!
Jesus alone defends His own,
When earth and hell oppress us!
Jesus with joy we witness
Almighty to deliver;
Our seals set to, that God is true,
And reigns a king for ever.

Omnipotent Redeemer,
Our ransomed souls adore Thee;
Our Savior Thou, we find it now,
And give Thee all the glory.
We sing Thine arm unshortened,
Brought through our sore temptation;
With heart and voice in Thee rejoice,
The God of our salvation.

Thine arm hath safely brought us
A way no more expected,
Than when Thy sheep passed through the deep,
By crystal walls protected.
The glory was our rearward,
Thy hand our lives did cover,
And we, e’en we, have passed the sea,
And marched triumphant over.

Save as devoted Peter
Betwixt the soldiers sleeping,
Like sheep we lay to wolves a prey,
Yet still in Jesus’ keeping.
Thou from th’ infernal Herod,
And evil expectation,
Hast set us free! All praise to Thee,
O God of our salvation.

The world and Satan’s malice
Thou, Jesus, hast confounded;
And, by Thy grace, with songs of praise
Our happy souls resounded.
Accepting our deliverance,
We triumph in Thy favor,
And for the love which now we prove,
Shall praise Thy name forever.

Charles Wesley

Isaiah 59:1 Behold, the LORD'S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear:

One of the fiercest riots Charles Wesley ever faced was that at Devizes in February, 1747. The Rev. John Meriton, a clergyman from the Isle of Man, who died in 1753 and spent his last years in accompanying and helping the Wesleys, was his companion.

The mob surrounded the house where they were staying, broke the windows, tore down the shutters, blocked the door with a wagon. Next day they poured water on the house with a hose. A constable carried this off, but they obtained the larger engine, flooded the rooms, and destroyed the furniture. The mob untiled the roof that they might get hold of the Methodist preacher.

At last the friends mounted their horses, and were escorted out of the town by the constable and his posse. ‘We rode a slow pace up the street, the whole multitude pouring along on both sides, and attending us with loud acclamations. Such fierceness and diabolical malice I had not seen in human faces. We felt great peace and acquiescence in the honour done us, while the whole town were spectators of our march.’

When they reached Wrexal, ‘We joined in hearty praises to our Deliverer, singing the hymn, Worship, and thanks and blessing, &c.’

John Telford. The Methodist Hymn-Book Illustrated, pp. 286–87.

-----------

Original artwork by Mary E. Stephens.

Letters to My Friend - Until You Eat It

Psalm 34:8 O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him. 

When my mom was a little girl she hated oatmeal porridge. Sometimes when she refused to eat it, her mother made her sit at the table until she had finished it. As I recall, on one occasion she was still sitting there when lunch time rolled around. I don't know when she finally did get it down, but it was a hard lesson for her.

My Gramma also taught her children to eat the things they didn't like first so that they could get them out of the way. This works pretty well, since once the serving of what you don't like is gone, you're free to enjoy the rest of your meal. It did backfire on my mom's youngest brother once when he was a little boy. He didn't like peas. He and his siblings were guests at someone's home without their parents being present, and they were served peas along with the rest of their dinner. My uncle ate his right down so quickly that the lady was impressed and, remarking that he really loved peas, she generously gave him another helping. Thankfully, his siblings spoke up and told her why he had gobbled his peas down. Being a very understanding and gracious lady, she told him he didn't have to eat the second helping, much to his relief.

Years later, when we were kids in our own home, I remember my mom putting food in the fridge that one of us had refused to eat. The offender was told they would have eat it at the next meal (probably before they got anything else). It seems like my sister might have pushed this through two meals once, but I don't remember clearly. Much of the time, however, we were made to eat the food one way or another.

Continue Reading.

A Tale of Two Guardian Bands - A Story from My Dad

 

Kijabe mission station where RVA is located.
Taken from the air around the general time this story occurs.

2 Kings 6:15-17 And when the servant of the man of God was risen early, and gone forth, behold, an host compassed the city both with horses and chariots. And his servant said unto him, Alas, my master! how shall we do? And he answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them. And Elisha prayed, and said, LORD, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the LORD opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.

Hebrews 1:13-14 But to which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool? Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation? 

For Father's Day I am sharing a true story from my dad's childhood in East Africa during the Mau Mau Uprising. Both of my parents attended the Rift Valley Academy boarding school for missionary children in Kenya when they were kids, as did their living siblings. As I was growing up I remember hearing this story told by different family members separately, but usually various ones together, and it left a tremendous impression on me. As you will see as you read, if God hadn't intervened at that time, both my dad and my mom likely would have died as children and I would never have been born. 

We are not superstitious people, but we do know that sometimes God steps in and alters the course of nature or man's evil intentions through the ministry of His angels. Usually we are never the wiser to this, but once in a long while He pulls back the veil for His purposes (there is always a biblical purpose) and lets people get a small glimpse into that world of spiritual warfare that is around us all the time. As with Elisha and his servant in 2 Kings, and as with Daniel when the angel came to answer his prayer for understanding and told him that he had been delayed in the spiritual world by the prince of Persia (a spiritual entity, since a man could never stop an angel), there are times when we are given a small look into what is happening there that we are unaware of usually. 

I hope you enjoy reading this and are encouraged to know that, no matter how grim the situation may appear around you, "they that be with us are more than they that be with them." We are not always "recued" in this flesh, but God is always victorious in the end.

He Shall Give His Angels...

P.S. My dad mentions the "pseudos" without going into much detail as to what they were. They were spies who posed as Mau Mau to infilterate them and find out what they were doing - a seriously dangerous job. As he mentions there were a few white men who did this - by dying themselves black. But they had to speak the language like a born native.