No-one likes to be alone. Loneliness is a darkness that each of us has felt at one tome or another. For some people, their existence is one of being alone, even in a crowd and no matter where they go or who surrounds them, there is a haunting cloud that gathers around them and they can’t shake it no matter how hard they might try. Again, no-one likes to be alone. We are made to need people.

But todays post is about another type of aloneness. This is an aloneness that all of God’s children should endeavor to pursue. This aloneness is one that God has designed, not to our hurt, but to our blessing. There is a time when we find ourselves alone but something is different here. It is in this stillness that we experience a loving God and Savior and we learn more and more of whom He actually is and what we mean to Him. We are told to search for this quietness. In Psalm 46, God tells us to “Be still, and know that I am God…The Lord of Hosts is with us…” (Psa. 46:10, 11).

There is a solace in knowing that we are in the presence of a loving God who concerns Himself with our emotions and emptinesses. In acknowledging Him in our quiet times, God has provided us for us to behold His love and compassion as His desire is to surround us with His presence. Where would be a better place that that. In His presence.

Many of us will think so negatively when we are alone and there are no friends, family, or anyone else to interact on a personal basis, to lean on and know that they understand what we are feeling, but, then there is the Lord Jesus. Let us not forget to pursue a quiet time just to be still and “know that I am God…the Lord of Hosts is with us.” The Scripture tells us that He understands us completely and even in our brokenness and dents and scratches He wants to spend time with us on an intimate level.

God reminds us that it is in quietness before Him that we find strength for life. “For thus saith the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength” but this is a gift that is so often left unopened. The remainder of the verse laments…“and ye would not.” How sad. Some will say they are too busy and just can’t find the time to be still. That is the time when we need to be still the most and set in His presence. God had a word for those to distracted to know Him…“When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned: Neither shall the flame kindle upon thee…Fear not: for I am with thee…” (Isaiah 43:2, 5a).

Let me encourage you to spend some quite time with the Lord, and just know Him…I think I will do that now.

Until then,

Brother Glenn

THE GLORY OF HOME

A great, if not the most wonderful place to think of is home.  “There is no place like home, there is no place like home.”  This is the sentiment of Dorothy on the “Wizard of Oz” when she was tapping those ruby slippers and thinking of the glory of home with Auntie Em and you could see the longing swelling up in her heart as she anticipates returning home.  

My entire life home has had a central place in my heart and still does.  Most of the memories that I treasure are centered on home.  Mom, Dad, my brothers and sister, the many, many days and nights with home-filled with kinfolk and, Oh! The memories.  Home is place like no other.  My wife and I have been blessed to travel to such places as Hawaii, Egypt, Jordan, Israel, Africa, Mexico, England, Alaska, and Many other places that, to many, are places of imagination.  However, these wonderful trips to unique destinations can never compare to a place called Home.  Home is where I grew up and learned how to love, hurt, help, and cherish those around me who are family.  Forever in my heart will home be a treasured place.

To the believer, the thought of home should bring up thoughts of wonder and longing as we consider the promises of God our Father.  In our heavenly home we will be surrounded with our family.  Brothers and Sisters, Saints from all ages will be surrounding the throne of God and we will be at home for ever and never to leave again.  God, in HIs desire to satisfy a longing in His child for a home that we have never seen but long for, gives us a glimpse at the Christian’s home.  In Revelation 21:3, 4, God tells us home will be a place where there will be no tears shed again as He shall wipe away all tears from our eyes.  At Home, there will be no death ever to experience again and as such, there will be no sorrow, no crying, no pain and all things will be new.  What a Home!  Revelation 22:25-27 God shows us more about that home and that it will be a place where there will be no night.  In Revelation 22:3, we are told there will be no curse there.  This indicates there will be no sin there at home.  

The most amazing thing about this home is that God has made it possible for every person to call this place home.  Realizing that Jesus died on the Cross for our sins and thereby making payment for the cost of sin and placing our faith in him guarantees us a room in that home.  Jesus said, “I go to prepare a place for you that where I am there you may be also.” (John 14:3).  

I hope you are longing for a home with Jesus in Glory.  He is the Glory of Home and I will be with Him some day.  And, like Dorothy, I can longingly say, “There is no place like Home.”

Until then, 

Brother Glenn

This is January 5 in the year of 2023. A new year, as the custom is, speaks of new things, new promises, new resolutions, new beginnings and other fresh things that are so often tailored to each individual. We all have them. We can’t help it. Try as we might we can’t escape the spirit of new things. There are some people who will seize the beginning of the new year with resolutions, vows, and other such things and off to a fresh beginning they go. But it seems that before we are around the first curve it seems we have forgotten about the new resolutions we have made. Just broken promises. There are vows that have been forsaken and it seems the same “Old Man” has reared his head as a strong man and now this year is just like the old year. Next comes frustration and discouragement. With this in mind I want to share some encouraging news with you.

Every new year, just like each day that God affords us, is given to us as a call to faith. It really doesn’t matter who you are, whether Saint or Sinner, the tomorrows that are before us are as unknowable to us as they can be. God’s Word tells us that “Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow…” (James 4:14). It is good to plan and set goals and dream of a better day tomorrow but we must retain the reality that our tomorrows belong to God. He is in our tomorrow before we ever see it’s sun rise. We plan with an understanding that our resolves and endeavors are temporary and we have very little time to pursue those dreams. We should be careful not to set our hearts to rise and fall on our dreams. They just might not come true and we might not have enough time to achieve these hopes. We must trust our tomorrows to God and by faith know that He goes before us and He leads us “in the paths of righteousness for His name sake”. (Psalm 23:3). He makes no mistake in where He designs our path. Therefore, we should look to Him and follow where He takes in the year to come. James also said because our life is a vapor, we should live life to the fullest – but how? James said “For that ye sought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this or that.” (James 4:15).

I don’t know what this year holds for me. But I know who holds my tomorrow. Sure, I will be tested, and my faith will face trying times. There will be days when I seem to be on bottom. But, whatever the test, God has allowed it for my benefit. My prayer for you and for myself is that we might have the faith of Job when he said, “But He knoweth the way that I take: when He hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.” (Job 23:10).

May 2023 be a “GOLDEN YEAR” for all of us!

Until then,

Brother Glenn

JUST A REMINDER FROM THE PSALMS

“The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord: and he delighteth in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand.” – Psalm 37:23,24

Many have found comfort in these verses throughout time and admittedly I have as well. It is a comfort to know that our loving Christ knows all about my steps and He sees the way I take. There is not a turn nor hill I walk that He hasn’t already gone ahead of me and is preparing the way for me and whatever it is going to take for me to crest the hill to get to the other side, that, to me seems way to steep and I am unsure if I have what it takes to get to the yonder side of the mountain, or when I am about to enter into a curve where I can’t see what is before me and it will require faith to take me around that turn where I will always find that Jesus has gone ahead and is waiting for me to come to Him in trust that He has ordered my steps…steps that if I will take them, delight will be found in the fact that as they have been ordered by the Lord, I can rest assured that regardless of what I face, I am secure in Christ in spite of what the enemy of the believer may have designed in the roads ahead in my journey of faith and hope – a design for failure, hurt, discouragement, falling, hopelessness and any other ugly outcome that we encounter day by day.

“Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down…”. A reminder that first of all, we all have the potential of falling and sinning against God and disappointing ourselves and falling prey to Satan and his plans for us that, rest assured, are lurking around the next curve or at the base of the next mountain. BUT, Jesus is already there for He promises that “though”, (we will fall, we will doubt, we will sin, we will fear, etc.,), He will not allow us to be utterly cast down. No sir, not on HIs watch. “For the Lord upholdeth him with His Hand.” I am thankful it is His hand that I rest in, for I don’t trust my hand and He has proven time and time again that He is faithful. To that I can say “Amen”.

I don’t know what mountain you may be facing or what curve life may have thrown at you but let me remind you that Jesus has established your path and has ordered your steps and in faithful walk you can rest assured that Jesus holds you in His hand and will never drop you. Remember, Jesus promised, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck therm out of my Father’s’s hand.” (John 10:27-29). Those are some mighty big hands that hold and keep us. Just a reminder.

Until then,

Brother Glenn

JOY COMES IN THE MORNING

“For His anger endureth but for a moment; in His favor is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.”  Psalm 30:5

What wonderful thought pictures come to my mind when I think about God’s promise of Joy in the morning to the Children of God.  It conjures thoughts of early morning song birds as they sing the melodies of life, new life coming in the new day and the early morning sun seemingly smiling on the human race and God’s creation.  Even the air seems to be pure and unpolluted, and, Oh! the blessedness of a new day.

In contemplating the promise of God’s joy arriving right on time, I have often thought about the night that many people have experienced in the darkness that has just ended with the breaking of a new day.  In this passing night many have found, instead of a needed rest and comfortable renewing of strength, that the night has held brokenness, emptiness, loneliness and despair.  Many have lost the nights rest due to worry and guilt.  Some have had to deal with an encountered sickness that was out of their control and has resulted in sleepless nights.  What do you say to those people who have endured such a night.  The darkest nights sometimes doesn’t come with the setting of the sun but in times of hearing a terrible diagnoses, or hearing your employer informing you of their decision to not need your services any longer, or maybe hearing the terrible words “I don’t love you anymore.”  How dark is the night in times like these.  

I don’t know about anyone but myself but I have had to face many dark nights and I surely didn’t know how I would get to the morning light from the night that seemed to endless.  The only strength that I could muster was not in myself but that strength that I needed was in the promises of God.  You may be in the night of darkest time of your life and looking for just one glimmer of hope.  I want to say to you what God has promised to me and to all who put there trust in Him.  “…joy cometh in the morning.”  

Consider…

• Psalm 94:17-19   “Unless the Lord had been my help, my soul had almost dwelt in silence.  When I said, “My foot slippery; thy mercy, O Lord, held me up.  In the multitude of my thoughts with me thy comforts delight my soul.”

• Psalm 139:1-12   “O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me.  Thou knows my downsizing and mine uprising, thou understands my thoughts afar off.  Thou compasses my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways.  For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O Lord, thou knows it altogether.  Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me.  Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it.  Whither shall I go from thy spirit?  Or whither shall I flee from thy presence.  If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.  If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea.  Even there shall thy Hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.   If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me.  Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.”

• Romans 8:31   “What shall we say then to these things, If God be for us, who can be against us?”

• Romans 8:35-39   “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?  As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter,  Nay, in all these things we are more that conquerors through in that loved us.   For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor powers, not things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us form the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

These are some of the promise of God that have helped me get through some of the darkest nights of my life.  I count on these and many other promises of God daily.  I am so grateful that “Joy Comes In The Morning.”    Today, joy in the day God has given you no matter the night.  He is faithful who has promised.

Until then…

Bro. Glenn

There was given to me a thorn in the flesh” (2 Corinthians 12:7).

“There was given to me” Can, then, the thorn be a gift from God? I am in the habit of seeing Gods gifts in the abundance of the things which my life possesses, and I call those things the dangers of life which diminish the sum of its abundance. But here there is a complete reversal of my thought; the abundance is the danger, and that which diminishes it is the gift.

Paul has been exalted above measure; he has been standing on the heights of prosperity, and summering in the sunshine of a cloudless day. The cloudlessness of the day is his greatest danger, and there is sent a mist over the sun. His spiritual life has been fragrant with the breath of flowers. The thorn is, for the time, Gods best gift to his soul; there is something protective in it. It has no fragrance, it has no beauty, but it yields one of the sweetest uses of adversityit reminds a human spirit that it is, after all, only human.

My God, I have never thanked Thee for my thorn. I have thanked Thee a thousand times for my roses, but not once for my thorn. I have been looking forward to a world where I shall get compensation for my cross, but I have never thought of my cross as itself a present glory.

Thou, Divine Love, whose human path has been perfected through sufferings, teach me the glory of my cross, teach me the value of my thorn. Show me that I have climbed to Thee by the path of pain. Show me that my tears have made my rainbow. Reveal to me that my strength was the product of that hour when I wrestled until the breaking of the day. Then shall I know that my thorn was blessed by Thee, then shall I know that my cross was a gift from Thee, and I shall raise a monument to the hour of my sorrows, and the words which I shall write upon it will be these: “It was good for me to have been afflicted” (Psalm 119:71).

This was written by George Matheson in a book now unpublished. Although this is an old document I believe it reflects the life of many people. Many of us, if not all of us, at one time or another experience a “thorn in the flesh” in our journey in this life. May the next encounter with a thorn we remember this article and take time to give God thanks for the thorn.

Until then…

Bro. Glenn

HE MAKETH NO MISTAKE – BY A. M. OVERTON

My Father’s way may twist and turn, my heart may throb and ache.

but in my soul I’m glad I know He maketh no mistake.

My cherished plans may go astray. My hopes may fade away.

But still I’ll trust my Lord to lead for He doth know the way.

Though night be dark and it may seem that day will never break, I’ll pin my faith, my all in Him, He maketh no mistake.

There’s so much now I cannot see, my eyesight’s far too dim.

But come what may, I’ll simply trust and leave it all to Him.

For by and by the mist will lift and plain it all He’ll make, through all the way, though dark to me, He made not one mistake.

In times of distress and trouble when you don’t understand what God is up to in your life, do like me and remember He makes no mistake.

Until then…

Bro. Glenn

It is something we all do and we do it every day. In one way or another, we communicate with those around us. We may know them or we may not. But we communicate, either with words or body language or we might simply refuse to acknowledge someone we encounter and in do so we are communicating to them.
One of the greatest gifts God has provided to man is the ability to communicate with the Holy One Himself. Oh, the blessing of coming into His presence in the troubled night or maybe the fearful day and find that God is waiting to hear from us! Or maybe it is the confidence to know that His ear is bowed low to our voice when we have a pressing need that will take divine power to have that need met. Maybe, it is in that desperate hour when a loved one is deathly sick and we are able to plead with our Maker and ask for healing and time and time again we are comforted by His mighty hand. Let’s not forget those times when He speaks His love to us and we are comforted and lifted up by His peace that He speaks to our hearts when we encounter Him in that unsuspecting moment. All of these examples of communicating with God are personal to me because I have exercised myself in each of these on many occasions. I believe we all could say that we have found ourselves in these thoughts and confess that we, too, have communicated to our Lord and have found Him faithful.
But there is another act of communicating with God that we should concentrate on more often and that is in the act of praising Him. It goes beyond being thankful or confident in Him hearing us. It is more than daily prayer for His guidance and following His will. It is more than that. It is praising Him because of who He is. David, in Psalm 150, devotes that last Psalm in its short six verses to a call to remembrance of God’s people to not forget in our communicating with God to praise Him. “Praise ye the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary: praise him in the firmament of his power. Praise him for his mighty acts: praise him according to his excellent greatness. Praise him with the sound of the trumpet: praise him with the psaltery and harp. Praise him with the timbrel and dance: praise him the stringed instruments and organs. Praise him upon the loud cymbals? Praise him upon the high sounding cymbals. Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord.” (Psalm 150:1-6). In these verses we are shown where we should praise Him…v. 1; why we should praise Him…v. 2; how we are to praise Him…v. 3-5; and finally, who should praise Him…v. 6.
When you have the opportunity to utilize that wonderful gift God has provided you to communicate with Him again, why not enter His presence with PRAISE! He is worthy.

Until then…
Bro. Glenn

A TIME TO REFLECT

I can recall a time when I was around seven years old on a farm in Texas, we lived in a farmhouse out in the country surrounded by fields and fields. Behind our house was a water tank, somewhere around fifteen to twenty feet across and about four feet deep with a wall of steel that was about 3/8 inches thick. Inside the tank were fish or at least I believed there were fish in the tank. On one particular night I went outside carrying a flashlight and climbing up so I could see I took the flashlight and shined into the water hoping to shine the light on a passing fish. As I was shining the light here and there and then all of a sudden I shined the light straight below me and to my shock I saw someone’s eyes looking up at me. It was not a fish but I could see it was human. Someone was under the water looking at me! I ran into the house and yelled for mom and told her what I had seen and she came with a rush to see the person in the water. As she took the flashlight and as I showed her where the person was she signed the light into the very spot. To my surprise and shock there were now two people looking up at us and mom began to laugh and laugh. I could not understand what she was laughing at until she explained to me that what I saw was my reflection in the water. Whew! As I am writing this it still makes me smile. I learned a great lesson about reflection on the water that I will never forget.
A new year has begun and if you are like me it brings me to a place to stop and do a little reflection on the past year of my life. Regardless of the ups and downs, failures and accomplishments, or maybe even the battles won or lost, I find that whatever the year has brought my way I realize that Jesus was with me all the way. Reflections are good that way.
From time to time, we need to do a little reflection of our spiritual walk to measure the condition of where we are and where we need to give more attention. We are called to do some personal reflection form the Word of God. In 2 Corinthians 13:5, we read, “Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith: prove your own selves…” Concerning the communion of believers, the Apostle Paul says, “But let a man examine himself…” There are times we are to reflect upon our lives to evaluate our standing when it comes to the guidelines of God’s Word. It would be good for us to remember the words of Jeremiah and make them our own. Jeremiah wrote in the book of Lamentations, “Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the Lord. Let us lift up our hearts with our hands unto Godin the Heavens.” (Lam. 3:40, 41). In Psalm 26, we have a complete Psalm of King David as he does an introspective review of himself before God. It is one thing to examine myself; it is another thing all together to ask God to examine me. That is what David did.
May we reflect upon our own lives today. And like David, may we ask God to examine us first and show us where we are in our walk with Him. Let us ask God to look into our hearts and to try us as David did. May we ask to search our thoughts and bring us to a full submission to His will. Let us separate ourselves from the ungodly, v. 4, 5. May we be ready to offer to God a pure living sacrifice (Romans 12:1, 2). That sacrifice begins with the offering of ourselves to the Lord in worship and a faithfulness of desire to be in His house where His honor dwells, (Psa. 26:8).
When we reflect upon our lives and surrender ourselves to God, we will never be shocked at what we see.

Until then…
Bro. Glenn

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Don’t you love new things?  A new car smell, flowers, your favorite cologne or perfume, etc. are a few of the things that we enjoy new.  The problem with new things is that they don’t remain new.  A new car will eventually become old and that new smell that drew us to a new car to begin with now has vanished and has been replaced with the old smell of time.  The flowers that we once enjoyed and thought were about the most beautiful aroma ever to enter into our nostrils and filled our minds with an essence forever embedded into our memories have now become dry and in the midst of their brittleness have lost not only their gorgeous beauty but also their bouquet of aromatic heaven.  Perfumes become old and stale if not used in a timely manner.  It seems everything tends to lose its newness. 

Man is no difference.  God created man in beauty and perfectness and to the Holy One; man in his newness was called “very good”.  But we all know people (and maybe we are known by others) who have lost their beauty and their new state.  Whether we consider a flower, a car, cologne or man, the truth of the matter is that beauty is lost and the blessed aroma is gone because of the entrance of sin into our world.

I think God likes new things as well.  As far as creation goes, God has promised to create a new heaven and a new earth (Revelation 21:1, 2).  Sin has stained and marked this world so much that a time is coming when God will make it new again.  Never again will it become stained, broken, stale, nor in any other way lose its beauty and sweet smelling savor.  Sin will never touch it again.  In Revelation 21:5 God promises “…Behold, I make all things new…”  But man will not be forgotten by God for He has promised in 2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold all things are become new.”  Through the redemption that is in Christ, what sin has broken, God will make new.  What has become marred, He will bring again to its beauty.  What was ugly from the fall in sin will become precious to the Heavenly Father and to no wonder – Christ died on the cross of Calvary that we might become free from all of sins pollutants.  And we must remember that we have all sinned, every one of us, and have lost the “very good” standing man once enjoyed from God but He wants to make us new again via salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.

Someday I will finally arrive at a new home, with a new heavenly family in a new creation and I am thankful to God for these promises.  However, there are some things I need to have Him renew in this life.  Take note:  “…renew a right spirit within me.”  (Psalms 51:10).  Or maybe “But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength…” (Isaiah 40:31).  During our journey here we are reminded that we are continually needing a touch of God’s renewing power for in 2 Corinthians 4:16 we read, “…but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day”. 

So, today let us desire and appreciate the newness God brings into our lives and may our walk be sweet smelling to our Lord.  This is a new day.  Walk with the Lord today and be a blessing.

Until then…

Bro. Glenn