"Divine Providence" By: Authur Pink

"How countless are Your works, O Lord! In wisdom You have made them all; the earth is full of Your creatures! Here is the sea, vast and wide, teeming with creatures beyond number—living things both large and small. All of them wait for You to give them their food at the right time. When You give it to them, they gather it; when You open Your hand, they are satisfied with good things. When You hide Your face, they are terrified; when You take away their breath, they die and return to the dust!" Psalm 104:24, 25, 27-29

The providence of God is His care of and provision which He makes for His creatures; with His supervision and superintendence of them. The providence of God in His government of the world is a subject of deep importance to the Christian, for by proper views thereof, he will learn to see God's activities—in the daily works of His hands. Yet, though Christians assent to this truth, nevertheless they are prone to overlook it in exercise, and thereby to be deprived in great measure of that poise of mind and comfort of heart, which a deep and constant improvement of this doctrine is calculated to impart.

Nothing is more strengthening to faith, stabilizing to the mind, and tranquilizing to the heart of a Christian—than for him to be enabled to discern his Father's hand guiding, shaping, and controlling everything which enters his life; and not only so, but that He is also governing this world, and all people and events in it. Alas, we are living in an age of terrible skepticism, when most of what happens is attributed to natural causes, while God is more and more banished from the world, in the consideration of His creatures. It is not only a fact that God governs the world in a general sense, but He also regulates all its affairs, and controls all creatures in it, "working all things after the counsel of His own will" (Ephesians 1:11).

God is not troubled by anything that is now taking place in His world—either in its political, social, or religious sphere; nor should we be troubled. The helm is still in His hand; and Satan himself cannot so much as touch a hair of our heads, without His direct permission.

"We ought to see the hand of God in the most trifling things. Nothing is so small as to be below His attention! Nothing is too great for His Providence to effect!"

Strength for each day

The Rainbow in the Clouds
by: John MacDuff

"Trouble not yourself regarding an unknown and veiled future; but cast all your cares on God. "Our sandals," says a saint now in glory, "are a proof against the roughest path." He whose name is "the God of all grace" is better than His word. He will be found equal to all the emergencies of His people; enough for each moment and each hour as they come. He never takes us to the bitter Marah streams, but He reveals also the hidden branch. Paul was hurled down from the third heavens to endure the smarting of the "thorn", but he rises like a giant from his fall, exulting in the sustaining grace of an "all-sufficient God."

The beautiful peculiarity in this promise is, that God proportions His grace to the nature and season of the trial. He does not give an 'advance supply of grace', but when the needed season and exigency comes, then the appropriate strength and support are imparted. He does not send the rainbow before the cloud, but when the cloud appears, the rainbow is seen in it! He gives sustaining grace for a trying day, and dying grace for a dying day.

Do not morbidly brood on the future. Live on the promise! When tomorrow comes with its trials, Jesus will come with tomorrow and with its trials too. Present grace is enough for present necessity. Trust God for the future. We honor Him, not by anticipating trial, but by confiding in His faithfulness, and crediting His assurances, that no temptation will He send greater than we are able to bear. Even if you should see fresh storm-clouds returning after the rain, be ready to say, "I will fear no evil, for You are with me!" Insufficient you are of yourself for any trial, but "your sufficiency is of God." The promise is not "Your grace," but "My grace is sufficient." Oh, trust His all-sufficiency in all things."

Hard Things

"Great faith is the product of great fights. Great testimonies are the outcome of great test. Great triumphs can only come out of great trials."

This morning as I woke up, I could not help but to just smile. Last night before going to bed I read a few chapters in a book I just bought titled : Do Hard Things, which was written by Alex and Brett Harris.

For me, especially in the past few months, it seems like my whole life has been about doing hard things. I do know I have it easier than most, and am maybe just a big baby, labeling some things 'hard' that others may find small and easy, but big or small they were hard for me.

I must remind myself that God isn't glorified when His children limit themselves to what comes easily for them. He isn't glorified when His children aren't willing to do hard things. The Christian calling is hard, but it is also the only calling worthy of such extraordinary effort.

History tells us that our best life is not our easiest life. Those men and women who were of the greatest service to God and to mankind were those who gave the most of themselves; those who endeavored, not to avoid difficulties, but to overcome them; not to seek comfort, but to do what was necessary, no matter how hard.

Our greatest joy and satisfaction comes not from avoiding hard things but from joyfully embracing them. This is how the same Jesus who said, "If anyone would come after Me let him deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow Me," could also say, "for My yoke is easy and My burden is light."

Following in Christ's footsteps is hard, but it's good, and He is the ultimate example to us of a life spent doing hard things for the glory of God.

Help Me Grow

I Asked the Lord that I Might Grow
By: Arthur Pink

"Make Your ways known to me, Lord; teach me Your paths. Guide me in Your truth and teach me. Psalm 25:4-5

There are two ways of learning of Divine things. The one is to acquire a letter knowledge of them from the Bible, the other is to be given an actual experience of them in the soul, under the Spirit's teaching.

Many suppose that by spending a few minutes in a concordance, they can discover what humility is; that by studying certain passages of Scriptures, they may obtain an increase of faith; or that by reading and re-reading a certain chapter, they may secure more love.

But that is not the way those graces are experimentally developed. Humility is learned by a daily smarting under the plague of the heart, and having its innumerable abominations exposed to our view. Repentance is learned by feeling the load of guilt, and the heavy burden of conscious defilement, bowing down the soul. Faith is learned by increasing discoveries of unbelief and infidelity. Love is learned by a personal sense of the undeserved goodness of God to the vilest of the vile. Patience cannot be learned from books—it is acquired in the furnace of affliction! It is thus with all the spiritual graces of the Christian.

Ah, my reader, we beg the Lord to teach us—but the fact is, that we do not like His method of teaching us! Fiery trials, storms of afflictions, the dashing of our carnal hopes—are indeed painful to flesh and blood; yet it is by them that the heart is purified.

We say that we wish to live to God's glory—but fail to remember that we can do so only as SELF is denied and the Cross be taken up. God's ways of teaching His children are, like all His ways, entirely different from ours!"

Lord thank you for helping me grow over the years and especially over the past few months. My prayer is that I grow into the trusting, humble, patient, loving, and God seeking man you want me to be. I pray that I can be the leader that you want me to be in every aspect of life (Job, Future Family, Friends, etc). Thank you for the variety of ways you have taught and showed me your love and direction for my life. Forgive me for ever lacking trust or being inpatient and trying to do things on my own. Forgive me for ever seeking self glory and being prideful and forgetting that without you I have nothing. Forgive me for ever doubting you in times of trials and wondering why. I thank you for this new season in life I am about to enter in which I have looked forward to for some time now as you know, and whatever this new season brings... I pray that I bring glory to you and apply all that you have taught me over the years. I pray this all in Jesus name, Amen.

Persistency

If you have ever seen the previews for any of the ICE AGE movies, you will know the little guy above named Scrat. One thing about Scrat that you need to know is, that he is the most persistent little guy ever. All he wants is his Acorn and to bury it, and every time he is about to get it something bad happens; whether he causes and then gets caught in an avalanche, or gets attacked by a mob of hungry barracudas, or gets his acorn stolen by an immodest female squirrel that tricks him. However, regardless of what happens he keeps on keeping on, and continues to be persistent in getting his acorn.

"The race is not always to the swift but to those who keep on running." Among other things, fulfilling God's will for our lives is reaching our total God-given human and spiritual potential. We don't have to be geniuses to do this, but we do need to be persistent and keep on keeping on regardless of our circumstances.

God has a plan and life-purpose for each of us. To achieve it, it won't happen without sacrifices, hard work, and persistence. As Paul said, "It is God himself in his mercy, who has given us this wonderful work ... and so we never give up."

Lord I pray that in the midst of waiting, setbacks, and the disappointments of life, please give me the gift of persistence so that I will never give up the goal of becoming all that you want me to be and in the challenge to keep on doing what you want me to do. I also pray Lord that you help me stay persistent in other things as well such as prayer, devotions, and reaching out to others. I thank you for the relationship that I have with you and thank you for never giving up on me. Amen

Shades in the Picture

It is a poor faith which can only trust God when friends are true, the body is healthy, the business is profitable, and the desires of our hearts are met; but that is true faith which holds by the Lord's faithfulness when friends are gone, when the body is sick, when desires are not yet received, and the light of our Father's countenance is hidden.

"If our faith be worth anything, it will stand the test."

"When "tribulation works patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope," the Lord is honored by these growing virtues. We would never know the music of the harp if the strings were left untouched; nor enjoy the juice of the grape if it were not trodden in the winepress; nor discover the sweet perfume of cinnamon if it were not pressed and beaten; nor feel the warmth of fire if the coals were not utterly consumed. The wisdom and power of the great Workman are discovered by the trials through which his vessels of mercy are permitted to pass." Spurgeon

One thing I have noticed is that present afflictions tend to heighten future joy. As the saying goes, "There must be shades in the picture to bring out the beauty of the lights."

232 Down.... 1 To Go

Last night as I was trying to study, I could not focus to save the life of me. Earlier my roommate had asked me what were the three biggest things that you will remember about UCF. As I started thinking about that it was then that it started to hit me. This was my last week in college. This day that I have been so looking forward to for the past few months is finally here. After this week I will be graduated and moving to Jacksonville and entering into a new season of life.

So, I decided to put some thought into his question before I answered it and these were the three biggest and most important things that I will remember about my time at UCF.

1. The sports. Flag Football and Intramural sports have been such a big part of my life over the past few years while being here at UCF and have just been a great way for me to have fun. I know that sounds selfish but playing sports is fun for me and I am thankful to God for them. They have also been a great way for me to meet people such as my roommate and other close friends.

2. My friends. My friends are what I will miss most from UCF, but I know that I will stay in touch with them so it will be all good. Being at UCF I have made a lot of friendships that mean a lot to me and I truly am grateful to God for each of those, that he has placed in my life.

3. God's work in me. The one thing that sticks out most to me as I look back is just how God has used this time for me at UCF to grow in my relationship with him. Coming to college I was really not in a good place faith wise. At the beginning I would have seen me as 'Stuck' going to UCF but see it different now. I now see that it was all part of God's plan for me and I was never stuck, but exactly where I was suppose to be. Graduating from UCF will truly be a 'beautiful thing behind a black mask' and I would not have wanted it any other way.

Lord I pray that you give me the strength to get through one more week here at college. I pray that I stay well rested and healthy as I am already starting to feel fatigued. Thank you for all that you have done for me and for saving me from the path that I was once heading down. Forgive me for ever being discontent with being here at UCF and forgive me for ever asking why and thank you for all the work you have done in me, while I was here at UCF. Amen

A Beautiful Face - Under a Black Mask

Lately I have been seeing all that God is doing in me, all through things that to begin with I would have found 'ugly' or unwanted. I found an article and liked the analogy of a beautiful face under a black mask, because sometimes things that come into our lives we find ugly and don't want, and when these 'undesired' things occur, how we can at first see no good outcome, no beauty, and no reason for the situation at hand. God's Providence has a beautiful face under a black mask. To me that means that even though the trial, affliction, moment of delay, or troublesome may seem ugly to us at first, what we will learn from this will be such a beautiful thing and only bring us closer to God and all work for our good.

"That is a choice artist--who can play well upon a broken instrument. To be impatient with our affliction--and patient with our corruption; is to be angry with the medicine which heals us--and in love with the poison which kills us! Beloved, it is sometimes a mercy to us--that God removes outward mercies from us! He never wounds a saint to kill him--but to heal him! God does but take that out of your hands--which would thrust Him out of your heart!

Too many think that God is cutting down the whole tree--when He is but lopping off its wasteful branches. They imagine that He is demolishing the superstructure, when He is only laying a right foundation. Poor souls, He is not nipping the flowers--but plucking up the weeds! He is not laying your land fallow--but ploughing the field!

God's Providence has a beautiful face--under a black mask! "