God encouraged me today with this verse

God just gave me just what I needed today.  I have been feeling so overwhelmed, tired, discouraged, and sad.  There have been a bunch of problems . . . . normal problems that we all have in life, problems that always get better tomorrow.  To top it all off, today I haven't been feeling the smile of God.  I know, f-e-e-l-i-n-g-s we can't trust them; circumstances and feelings change with the wind, but at the time it still feels real.  I went walking to find my dear wife some medicine since she has been sick the last couple of days, and I decided to read while walking.  The first page I read was this:

"Rise and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness . . . to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me."   Acts 26:16,18

It was as if God was speaking to me saying, "Now get up and stand on your feet, there are people who need to be saved and sanctified, but you need to quit wallowing around in sadness so you can get something done."  I started crying blessed because God would care enough for me to give me a quick swat on the rear and say, "Get over it.  How can I use you moping around like this."  So I decided to look at the possibilities through faith . . . no, the probabilities. 

This makes me think of two quotes which let me know I have it SOOO easy:

"I live poorly with regard to the comforts of this life: most of my diet consists of boiled corn. . . . I lodge on a bundle of straw; my labor is . . . extremely difficult; and I have little appearance of success to comfort me . . . . But that which makes all my difficulties grievous to be borne is, that God hides his face from me."  -David Brainerd

"If any ask what success I meet with among the natives? -- tell them to look at Otaheite, where the missionaries labored nearly twenty years, and not meeting with slightest success, began to be neglected by all the Christian world . . . Tell them to look at Bengal also, where Dr. Thomas has been laboring seventeen years . . . before the first convert, Krishno, was Baptized.  When a few converts are made, things move on.  But it requires a much longer time than I have been here, to make an impression . . . "  - Adoniram Judson  

The Royal Wedding

The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king, who made a marriage for his son.  - Matthew 22

Britain's Prince William on his way to Westminster Abbey at the Royal Wedding in London, April, 29, 2011. (Alastair Grant/AP Photo

A romance with royalty like Prince William falling in love with a commoner like Kate Middleton fascinates us perhaps because it is a picture of what Jesus has done with us.  We see other captivating examples.  Ahasuerus, king of a great kingdom fell in love with the fatherless captive Hadassah also known as the “fair and beautiful” young virgin Esther.  And the elder rich Boaz fell in love with the young poor stranger in Israel, Ruth.  

At marriage the wife lays aside her name and takes on the name of her husband.  In the case of British royalty, Prince William's current title is Prince William of Wales. Under the rules of British titles, his wife born a commoner would be styled Princess William of Wales rather than Princess Kate, for she was not born a princess.  (However, most will still affectionately call her Princess Kate.)  Likewise we Christians are royalty only in Christ and we take on His name and loose our old identity in Him.

In the past on the day of the marriage, the bride, concealed under a thick veil, was conducted to her future husband's home.  (Easton’s Bible Dictionary)  This is how Jacob was tricked into marrying Leah.  I found it interesting that William and Kate after their wedding went to Buckingham Palace, the home of a Prince.  Christ went to prepare a place for us and he will come again and receive us unto himself and our heavenly home.  The bride's robe in Revelation 19:8 is white.  "And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints."  Today, brides such as Kate Middleton still carry on the custom a veil and of a white gown.  This custom today of a white gown still represents her purity.  And traditionally Christian weddings have seen the bride's gown and veil covering her from head to toe.  This tells her man that she lives for his eyes and his affection alone.  Biblical Christians today also cover their bodies as God teaches us in His word.  By doing such we are telling God we live for His eyes, His affection, and His approval alone, "forsaking all others'" (the world's) dictates, opinions, and affection.

When the preacher says, "You may now kiss the bride," this is the moment the couple has been anticipating, and with joy the groom removes the veil, beholds his bride's beauty, and they partake of each other's physical affection.  This important word "now" means that they’ve kept themselves pure for this moment, they are at last permitted to give themselves to the other's kisses.  This denotes keeping pure with not just body but also virginity of emotions and spirit.  The word consummation is not just used for marriage but for the end of the age and with Christ and His bride.  We are waiting and keeping ourselves pure to someday see him face to face and joy in His glory and presence.  Consummate means:  "To end; to finish by completing what was intended; to perfect; to bring or carry to the utmost point or degree." (Webster, 1828) 

I think that the custom of the husband not being allowed to see the Bride nor her dress until she is led to the altar speaks of anticipation, patience, waiting the proper order of things.

Having a groomsman is Biblical: In some Bible times, the husband and bride were not to see each other but live in separate places until the wedding.  The friend of the groom (groomsman) carried on communication between the two until the wedding when they could see each other.  John 3:28-29 speaks of  a "friend of the bridegroom" when John, Jesus' cousin says, "I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before him.  He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth."  The groomsman, John the Baptist, communicated with God's people preparing them for the coming of the groom Jesus.

Bridesmaids (women of honor) attending the bride is also mentioned in the Bible.  Psalm 45:9  Kings' daughters were among thy honourable women: upon thy right hand did stand the queen in gold of Ophir.  And from that same verse we see the bride at the groom's right hand and today the married bride marches out on the right hand of bridegroom.  Psalm 16:11, "In thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore."  We look forward to spending "forever" with the Groom and living happily ever after. 

Husband means, the “house-band,” connecting and keeping together the whole family.

We know in the past the young man was bound to give a price for the maiden such as in Ruth 4:10.  "Moreover Ruth . . . have I purchased to be my wife."  Jesus paid the ultimate price for us according to Ephesians 5:25, "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave Himself for it."  Also in Act 20:28, "Take heed . . . to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood."  Today in our USA culture, the only price is, "forsaking all others, I pledge thee..."  

God tells us that marriage is indissoluble during the joint lives of the parties.  According to the media itself, unfaithfulness to his marriage vow is the main reason Prince Charles is so unpopular today and many want Prince William his son to be king instead.  God's moral law written on our hearts tells us that the husband and wife should be faithful for life.  Matthew 19:6  "Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder."  Romans 7:2-3 and 1 Corinthians 7:39 also mandate marriage's life long permanence. 

-Phillip Dickinson

~My Winnie the Pooh Cake~

(Mommy doesn't remember if she posted these pics of my cake on her blog, so I'm posting them on ours.)  I had fun taking a cake decorating class while in the US with my friends and cousins. This is one of the first cakes I made.  

Good message preached by B.J. Walker

Thank you B.J. Walker for a beautiful, simple message you just preached on holiness at I.H.C. One point that really encouraged me to seek after God was something like the following. "You can have as much of God's presence as you desire."

James Plank preaching at IHC right now, IV.

"Every lay person here, you are raising our future leaders."

"Laymen, THINK about the things you are doing in your home!"

"[With Samson little things quit mattering to him and] while Samson slept, they shaved his head, and the Spirit departed and he knew no different.
He lost his discernment and his power.
We dare not loose our God given power...we dare not loose the glory.  [Little things do matter!]"

Bro. Plank is concluding... "please, hold the line," he is saying.

"Reinforcements are coming, there is a new generation coming.  The young people will never fight for a cause [that you will not fight for.]"

"One comes on a white horse, our greatest reinforcement is coming..."

This is powerful!

"Most of all I want to get to heaven and hear, well done, thou good and faithful servant... amen."

I recommend that you get this message, folks, this was powerful.  Orders can be made here, or listen while it is still archived.  This has been making me want to spend more time in prayer and live oh so carefully.  Blessings on you, Phillip... listening to IHC, via Internet.

James Plank preaching at IHC right now, III.

"I have never been the same since going to Papua New Guinea.  The most beautiful college choir hasn't sang on this pulpit.  They were barefoot and tried to match.  Their first song they sang, 'Called Unto Holiness.'"

"[To many today] Little things like simplicity [in dress] don't matter anymore.'

"[I don't want to knock our movement] I thank God for the things that remain."

"I know that there is a reproach."

"I appreciate my wife's {modesty] and simplicity.  It is a conviction with her whether we are at IHC or on vacation."

"Living the careful life...the consistant life bears a bit of a reproach.  But I want to tell you that with this life there is a glory [that makes any bit of the reproach seem so light.]"

"Since when was it up for debate that gold or silver could be used to adorn their body. [even with wedding bands]"

"Modesty is essential wherever you are."

"The people accross the years who have helped us to drive stakes, you line them all up here and they would all be modest even in their attire."

James Plank preaching at IHC right now II.

"Are we more concerned about technology or are we more concerned about [God's presence]?"
"Are we more concerned about the show or are we more concerned about the glory?"
"Oh, how desperately our churches need some red hot anointed preaching."
"I know that there has been some wild fire in the past, but I'm not seeing wild fire; I'm seeing deadness."
"We have a right to shout and we have a right to mind God."
"Is anyone concerned that our songs are slowly changing for songs that are on the edge, chaffy...."

James Plank preaching at IHC right now.

Wow!  Praise the Lord!!!!  James Plank is pouring it on right now at IHC.  I started this live blogging late, so I missed the text.  God give us a revival of holiness!!!
"It used to be all about a burden for souls, fasting for revival, etc... Now things like prayer... to some it doesn't matter anymore."
"Our young people will go wherever you and I lead them."
"As a young man I was not presented with multiple choice, but 'this is the way, walk ye in it.'  It was all true or false, now it is multiple choice."

How do you know if you have a call?

"Not called!" did you say? "Not heard the call," I think you should say. Put your ear down to the Bible, and hear him bid you go and pull sinners out of the fire of sin. Put your ear down to the burdened, agonized heart of humanity, and listen to its pitiful wail for help. Go stand by the gates of hell, and hear the damned entreat you to go to their father's house and bid their brothers and sisters, and servants and masters not to come there. And then look Christ in the face, whose mercy you have professed to obey, and tell him whether you will join heart and soul and body and circumstances in the march to publish his mercy to the world.
- William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army

A peak into our family life right now...

We've been enjoying listening to the Interchurch Holiness Convention (a.k.a. IHC) from here in Colombia!  I love this way of holiness and I love her people!

A promise for the tearful.

Here is God's promise for only those who cry.

They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.   - Psalm 126:5

And the following verse is no less beautiful.

He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.   - Psalm 126:6

Benefits of prayer

One can not be defeated who lives upon his knees.
Knee work always prepares one to be useful in God's cause.  A praying man is no drone, never! he is a live bee, making lots of good honey, his beehive full all the time...not only in a revival, not only when the preacher is around, but all the time.
- Praying Clear Through by W. J. Harney

Life in Christ

Why seek ye the living among the dead?
- Luke 24:5

If you seek after the presence of Christ, watch your company.

If you seek after the presence of Christ, you will not find Him while wasting time on the dead things of this world.

And happily, you will not find the dead nor death with the Living One.

Our Good Friday flower robbery.

I delight in seeing things grow.  I enjoy, flowers, fruit trees, gardens, yard work, etc.  So I am enjoying having a tiny plot in front of our front door to watch a few flowers grow.  Our calla lily is our special plant.  Heather's wedding bouquet had calla lilies.  And we enjoy caring for, watching, and waiting with anticipation for any new buds.  A few days ago it looked so beautiful glistening with raindrops that I took photos to share with you here.  Pardon the quality of the photos, but notice the third bud ready to open.

Today is Good Friday.  And this morning we looked out our front door and saw this.

A Catholic procession.  And then I saw this.

Someone had stolen all three of our calla lilies.  A little while later Sarah saw them in a vase in on the security guards' desk in the entrance to our apartments.  Yep, they were the same ones...the little bud and the two big blooms.  I told Heather that I was going to ask about it.  Heather said that she wanted to, so I let her.  Heather asked them where they got the flowers.  They said, "One of the residents brought them."  Heather said that someone took them from from our garden without asking us.  The guards said, "But these flowers are for the Virgin."  With their expressions saying that we should feel honored and happy -- end of story.  Heather let them know that they should still ask before taking our flowers and that this wasn't the first time that someone took our flowers.  Afterward she gave them some of her homemade candied almonds so they would know that we held no ill will.

I told our family that whoever took the flowers didn't have the blameless heart that King David had.  For he said that he couldn't offer a sacrifice to God that didn't cost him anything.  (2 Sam. 24:24)  It doesn't speak well of a god when it's followers can only choke up a stolen offering, or something lame, or just extras.  Also many other infamous crooks throughout history stole from people with the excuse of a higher cause such as giving to others.  [Think Robin Hood the hooded robber and Pablo Escobar the cocaine drug lord who would kill and steal yet give to the poor.  And Communism, etc.]  Jesus called the Pharisees hypocrites and said they made void the law of God for their traditions.  Because they said that you could ignore your parents needs if you were going to give it as an offering to their religious coffers.  (Mk 7:11)  Today was a perfect teaching moment.

All in all it looks like we'll have to start enjoying our garden flowers in a vase on our table from now on.  Unless we want others to steal them to give them to the virgin and other needy causes.

A promise for you

Behold the Lord's hand is not shortened that it cannot save: neither His ear heavy, that it cannot hear.
- Isaiah 59:1

Does your faith move mountains, or do mountains move your faith?
- Off of an old promise card

Success in marriage...

A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person.
- From Love for a Lifetime by Dr. James Dobson

I have found that to be my delightful experience with my dear wife Heather.

Thomas Jefferson quotes: "I tremble for my country . . . God is just"

"God who gave us life gave us liberty.  Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of God?  Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, that his justice cannot sleep forever."

So said Thomas Jefferson.  If he felt that God's judgment was so imminent then, where do we stand now.  Following are some more great quotes by Mr. Jefferson.   

"Determine never to be idle...It is wonderful how much may be done if we are always doing."

"I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies."

"Never spend your money before you have it."

"I do not take a single newspaper, nor read one a month, and I feel myself infinitely the happier for it."

"The man who reads nothing at all is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers."

"An honest man can feel no pleasure in the exercise of power over his fellow citizens."


I wish we could hear more politicians boldly saying good stuff like this.

The dramatic change that comes from meeting Jesus

I really like this verse.  It packs a whole lot of punch.  Have you noticed the following in Mark 5:15?

"And they come to Jesus, and see him that was possessed with the devil, and had the legion, sitting, and clothed, and in his right mind: and they were afraid." 

"him that was possessed with the devil"   
His inner being was different and free from what had enslaved him.

"sitting"
His actions were different; he was no longer screaming and causing fear and destruction.

"clothed"
His dress was different; he now wanted to cover rather than uncover his body, and in a wholesome manner.

"in his right mind"
He thought and talked differently than before he had met Christ.  Now he posessed wisdom and normality as God views normality.

"and they were afraid"
Others who haven't been changed by Christ often don't understand and are sometimes scared of how different we are.  It's as if they would rather we remain as we were before meeting Christ.

The heavens declare God's glory!

This has been imported and reposted from it's original post date of 6/4/07.

A few weeks ago I read Psalm 19:1, "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork." I had never had any yearning to go to outer space. But when I read this I had a strong desire to go and see space. This could give me another glimpse into the glory of God -- into the utter perfections of God. So recently I decided that googling an image search would be more feasible than a trip to outer space at this time in my life. Here are some Hubble images and other images of galaxies, stars, etc. that may declare to you the glory of God.

The Hubble Space Telescope produced this picture (below) of the “Pillars of Creation” in the Eagle Nebula back in 1995, and since then it has become a classic space image. The towering clouds of cool gas and dust veil stars in the nebula, which is 6,500 light-years away In the constellation Serpens. The height of the tallest pillar is about 4 light-years, or 24 trillion miles. (for those of you clueless to "light-years", it means the distance it takes for light to travel for one year. Light travels 186,000 miles per second. There are 60 seconds in a minute, 60 minutes in an hour, 24 hours in a day, and 365 days in a year. Multiply these together to get 31,500,000 seconds in a year. Multiply that times 186,000 miles per second and you get 5,850,000,000,000 miles—about 6 trillion miles. It takes about 8 minutes for light to travel from our sun to our earth.) Our entire solar system would be just a speck on this picture.


The Pillars of Creation take up just a small area in the Spitzer Space Telescope’s view of the Eagle Nebula. In this picture, a small yellow outline shows the area taken up by the Hubble picture. The Hubble view is repeated in the larger inset picture to help you get your bearings.

For more pictures of the Eagle Nebula click here.
Yes, the heavens declare the Glory of God!

"Keep me, O Lord, from losing the dew of the morning in the heat of the day."

So prayed Samuel Logan Brengle often that his strength may not fail him in the midst of battle, or lest he grow irritable or feverish or stale.

Regarding current events of this age -- hope in the approaching storm

To look around we sure could be shaken with what seems to be the beginning of shaking of all that can be shaken in order to usher in Christ's unmovable eternal kingdom.  But thank the Lord that no matter what mounts up against us we -- the blood-washed, the holy, the church of Christ -- are being carried in God's ark of safety just like Noah was carried and though lightning flash and thunder roll and though the ark we are in tremble and some even fall away from the ark, we look up with joy knowing that our day of hope and redemption draweth nigh.  We sure are living in tumultuous and perilous days, yet they are exciting for we know that God is working out His plan and we get to witness it.  Those who will be kept by the power of God will be those who build themselves up in the most holy faith by praying in the Holy Ghost.  (Jude 1:20)  Oh, let's bring others into this ark of safety.

Hebrews 12:25b - 29   ...him that speaketh from heaven:  Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.  And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.  Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:  For our God is a consuming fire.

A tip for more joy in your marriage

Husband and wife, erasing the boundary line between "mine" and "yours" will give you greater joy.

Praise to God written in memory of Nancy Davis

This is in addition to the original post below.  These two articles give more details:  Here   and   Here

I wrote this hymn on 1/29/2011 in memory of Nancy Davis:  Missionary, Song Writer, Prayer Warrior, Beloved Mother and Wife, Disciple of Christ.  “Greater love hath no man...that a man lay down his life...” (Jn.15:13)  

We sing to the Lord a new song of praise.       

With vict’ry assured our voices we raise.          

The souls of His honored martyrs await.      

While resting from labors they anticipate

A song of Redeemed with us to sing

With hosts of angels marveling.

With hosts of angels marveling.

Our Captain leads on.  We look to His face --

A fountain of glory, truth, and sweet grace.

He lovingly with authority speaks

And thrills with His power, all fears can but cease,

“The cross, child, endure, the shame ignore;

“Abundant joy I give and more.”

“Abundant joy I give and more.”

He’ll come once again the heavens to shake.

Before His great wrath the whole earth will quake.

We boldly proclaim our great Saviour’s name

He’s holy and just and His judgments the same.

Pray Who is this One we’re trumpeting?

Our thorn-crowned Jesus now made King!

Our thorn-crowned Jesus now made King!

    - Phillip Dickinson

Rare and precious Humility

Humility is not thinking little of oneself, but not thinking of oneself.
             - Guide Lamps for God's Lambs by Mary Durren

Humility is perfect quietness of heart.  It is to have no trouble.  It is never to be fretted, or vexed, or irritated, or sore.  It is to expect nothing, to wonder at nothing that is done to me, to feel nothing done against me.  It is to be at rest when nobody praises me, and when I am blamed or despised.   It is to have a blessed home in the Lord, where I can go in and shut the door, and kneel to my Father in secret, and am at peace as in a deep sea of calmness, when all around and above is trouble.   -  By Andrew Murray, found in "The Voice in the Wilderness" and on our pastor's wife's blog, Gayle's Blog. 

In theology, humility consists in lowliness of mind; a deep sense of one's own unworthiness in the sight of God, self-abasement, penitence for sin, and submission to the divine will.  
Before honor is humility. Prov 15.
Serving the Lord with all humility of mind. Acts 20.
   - From Noah Webster's 1828 Dictionary

See God's great goodness to sinners!

Goodness and Love look down upon the fallen race, and desire their happiness; Wisdom divises the remedy; Pity lets fall her tear of sympathy; and Mercy comes to the rescue.  But while the guilty turn with indifference or scorn from all the offers of grace tendered by the hand of Mercy, Long-suffering waits with enduring patience, reiterates the pleadings of Mercy, crying, "Why will ye die?" till Goodness, and Love, and Pity, and Mercy, and Long-suffering, having all made their appeals only to be rejected and set at naught, join with Justice, and Holiness, and every perfection of God, in pronouncing upon the incorrigible their fearful and irrevocable doom.        - Elements of Divinity, from chapter 2  Attributes of God, by Thomas N. Ralston

Ministers? Or Superiors.

"If ye were of Christ, then should ye be meek ministers, not proud superiors."                                     - So said a martyr to the priests persecuting him.  From Foxe's Book of Martyrs

~My Birthday party~

In Jan.we got to have a birthday party for Sarah, Noah, and I. Here's the cake I made.




Here's my table.
Thanks, guys, for coming! (girls)


We had lots of fun.

The springtime of life

Secret prayer is the springtime of life.                                                                                                                 - Evan Roberts

A Promise. What good thing do you want?

For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.   Psalm 84:11

Walk uprightly before God.  Ask "good things" of God.  Ask largely too.  Very largely!  For God will not withhold it from you.

G. Cambell Morgan on Opposition & Desires

~ Instead of men saying, "I want...because God so desires," they say, "I want...because I so desire."                       

~ The Devil's methods of opposition are those of alliance and antagonism, and the only serious one is the first. Let us beware of it. Do not let us imagine that we can take into our fellowship and enlist under one banner men who simply affirm truth about Jesus, unless in their own lives there is an absolute loyalty to the Lord Christ. Antagonism is the creation of force for the kingdom of God. Put a man in prison for Christ's sake, and the earthquake will surely follow, and the work will spread.                    -quotes by G. Campbell Morgan, 1863-1945

A great man and how he preached

[He] is a great preacher of the Word.  He is always forceful and clear, never excited, harsh or dictatorial.  He convinces, and draws men to the truth.  He puts in the sword, not as the smiting of an angry foe, but with the careful kindness of a determined surgeon, who will cut out the disease to save the patient.

So said H. C. Morrison of his co-worker Joseph H. Smith, a holiness great.  J. H. Smith helped lead many into heart holiness.  Some of the leading holiness preachers and educators of his day deemed Smith, "one of the greatest expositors of the English Bible in all the world."  Also interesting is that he was a self-taught man having attended neither college nor seminary and turned down honorary degrees three times in his life because he wanted nothing in the way of title that would seem to put him above the majority of his brethren. 
   -- From Lives of Spiritual Splendor by Anna Talbott McPherson

Pics of Colombia's & USA's presidents with Scripture

I found these pictures interesting.  The President of Colombia, Juan Manuel Santos, and the President of the United States of America, Barack Hussein Obama, together in the Oval Office of the White House on April 7, 2011.

 

~Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.  Romans 13:1

~The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will.  Proverbs 21:1

~I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men;  For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.  1 Timothy 2:1-2

The key for God for to use you.

God will work through anyone whose heart is perfect toward Him!

For the eyes of the LORD run to and from throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward Him.    2 Chronicles 16:9

That which altered Oswald Chambers' life

Oswald Chambers' crisis of full surrender to God in 1901 profoundly altered his life.  Later he spoke of it in a letter to a friend.

You ask a question about the baptism of the Holy Ghost -- did I get there all at once, or easily?  No, I did not.  Pride and the posession of the high esteem of my many Christian friends kept me out for long enough.  But immediately I was willing to sacrifice all and put myself on the Altar, which is Jesus Himself, all was begun and done.
Holiness is not an attainment at all, it is the gift of God, and the pietistic tendency is the introspection which makes me worship my own earnestness and not take the Lord seriously at all.  It is a pious fraud that suits the natural man immensely.  He makes me holy, He sanctifies, He does it all.  All I have to do is come as a spiritual pauper, not ashamed to beg, to let go of my right to myself and act on Romans 12:1-2.  It is never 'Do, do and you'll be' with the Lord, but 'Be, be, and I will do through you.'  It is a case of 'hands up' and letting go, and then entire reliance on Him.                                  -- From Oswald Chambers: Abandoned to God by David McCasland

Alone... but with God!

Most religious people live in a sort of treadmill life, where they can calculate almost everything that will happen, but the souls that God leads out into immediate and special dealings, He shuts in where all they know is that God has hold of them, and is dealing with them, and their expectation is from Him alone.
Like this...we must be detached form outward things and attached inwardly to the Lord alone in order to see His wonders.

In the sorest trials God often makes the sweetest discoveries of Himself.

God sometimes shuts the door and shuts us in,                                               That He may speak, perchance through grief or pain,                                        And softly, heart to heart, above the din,                                                           May tell some precious thought to us again. 

                                           -- Streams in the Desert, by Mrs. Charles E. Cowman

The secret to praying

"The secret to praying is not fainting.  'Men ought always to pray, and not to faint.'"  (Luke 18:1)
   -- Pastor Jimmy Ramirez of Christian Nation Church Colombia

What privileges we have in Christ!

There are those who, having entered into this gracious experience of entire sanctification, have had their minds so occupied at first with the marvelous cleansing wrought within that for a time they have failed to grasp the full extent of their privileges in Christ.

Sheridan Baker said that soon after being sanctified he began to turn away his attention from what had been "done for him" to what he "saw before him."  He saw that a state of purity and general fulness of the Spirit were small matters in comparison to "all the fulness of God," and "living in the realm of the 'exceeding abundantly above all that we can ask or think.'"  Since that time he says, "I have been a seeker, not for pardon, or purity, or the grace already obtained, but for more and more of the Christ nature."      
-- p.215, The Epistle to the Hebrews by H. Orton Wiley

Happy Birthday, Dear Mother!

To my dear mother Sherry,

I, along with Heather, Kimberly, Sarah, Noah, Elijah, and Mary, wish you a very happy birthday.  We are so glad that God gave you to us... or rather that God gave us to you (since you were here first)!  We are even more grateful that you are a Christian mother!  We hope that God gives you many more birthdays and each year is more blessed than the previous.  We all love you very much.  You are so special to us all.
Phillip and family

"He who is not ready to suffer is blown away like chaff"

We have all of us -- the whole Church and the whole community -- we've been thrown into the Tempter's sieve, and he is shaking and the wind is blowing, and it must now become manifest whether we are wheat or chaff!  Verily, a time of sifting has come upon us, and even the most indolent and peaceful person among us must see that the calm of a meditative Christianity is at an end....
It is now springtime for the hopeful and expectant Christian Church -- it is testing time, and God is giving Satan a free hand, so he may shake us up and so that it may be seen what manner of men we are!...
Satan swings his sieve and Christianity is thrown hither and thither; and he who is not ready to suffer, he who called himself a Christian only because he thereby hoped to gain something good for his race and his nation is blown away like chaff by the wind of time.
-- from Niemoller's message in 1934 declaring God's purpose for the trials facing the German church, quoted by Erwin W. Lutzer in When A Nation Forgets God: 7 Lessons We Must Learn From Nazi Germany.

~Noah's birthday party!~

In the middle of trying to pack for Colombia, Mommy let us have a triple birthday party. Sarah had turned 10, I turned 7 and Kimberly turned 13. Here's some pics from my party. I had invited 2 other friends, but unfortunately they got sick and couldn't come. =(

Since Kimberly was busy making her own cake, my sweet cousin Brittany helped decorate my cake.