There Is One That Wants to Destroy You and Only Jesus Can Prevent It.

 

1 Peter 5:6-11  “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you. Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:   Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world. But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.   To him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen

If we look back in history to the days of Job, we find that Job was the only man of that day who could take an all out assault from Satan.  The scriptures say Satan took them at his will, meaning no one could survive his attack.  However, God said, “Hast thou considered my servant Job?”  Satan said, “Yes, but thou hast a hedge about him.” 

It is the same for us today.  If it weren’t for Jesus, none of us could take on Satan today.  We see the destruction he is causing; murdering and stealing the lives of our young and old, sending them to an eternal fiery damnation.  We know Jesus and His power.  He has given us this power to resist the temptation and the desire of the path of destruction that Satan wants to lead us down.

            I just saw a story on the news where three young kids not over the age of 10, tied a cinderblock around their three or four year old cousins neck and drowned her.  Surely we are blessed and should not give or show any respect to Satan by sinning.  We should be like the Apostle Paul in his closing remarks in the above scriptures.  Let it be so.

            As your pastor, I would like to encourage you to always look and think before you do something; know whether you are glorifying God or Satan.  God wants us to have life and to have it more abundantly.  However, Satan only desires for us destruction and death.

            May God bless you and lead you in making the right choices and decisions.  Happy Mother’s Day to all you mothers.  I encourage you to keep your children from the adversary.

           

Love in Christ,

Your pastor,

Charles A. Clark

 

V V V V V V V V V V

 

Jesus “The Living Water and Healer”

By Brother Mark Simmons

 

I am late this month getting John this letter.  Satan sat on my brain and deterred my thoughts.  However, Satan looses again because Jesus broke through.

 

What God wants you to think about are two things.  First, what our pastor said in Saturday night service.  He told us that he could lead us to the Lord, but it was up to each individual to accept the truth and let Jesus have his way with our soul.

 

This made me think of the old saying, “You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink.”  In other words, our pastor leads us to the living water of Jesus, but we have to drink on our own.  No one will force us to drink, not even the Lord.  I do know when we drink, we will thirst no more.

 

The second thought Jesus told me to tell everyone to think about is healing.  We all know that God put doctors on this earth to practice on us even though he guides their knowledge and hands when they operate.

What came to me was that when doctors operate, you bleed; you have scars, pain and suffering.  I had a place on my leg that the doctors could not get to heal; they did not know what to do.  I knew who could heal and who could practice.  The elders anointed me and I prayed for healing.  This process took two years to heal but Jesus showed me through this that only he could heal me.

 

You think about how God directs doctors to help, but they leave marks on you.  When Jesus heals you, there is never a scar made and no blood is spilled.  You have no further pain or suffering.

 

This is because he has already spilled his blood, taken the cuts and scars.  He went through tremendous pain and suffering.  Jesus desires that you trust him to heal you because “with” his strips you are healed.

 

Jesus loves each of us; we need to love him more.

 

V V V V V V V V V V

 

USA MAP

Submitted By Brother Pat Sutphin

 

A father wanted to read a magazine but was being bothered by his little girl.

 

She wanted to know what the United States looked like.   Finally, he tore a sheet out of his new magazine on which was printed the map of the country.

 

Tearing it into small pieces, he gave it to her and said, ‘Go into the other room and see if you can put this together.   This will show you our whole country today…’

 

 

 

 

 

After a few minutes, she returned and handed him the map, correctly fitted and taped together.   The father was surprised and asked how she had finished so quickly..

 

‘Oh,’ she said, ‘on the other side of the paper is a picture of Jesus. When I got all of Jesus back where He belonged,   Then our country just came together.’

 

 

 

V V V V V V V V V V

 

Submitted by Brother Steve Deatley

 

If we are distressed it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer.  And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.  (2 Corinthians 1:6-7)

 

Once I heard a song of sweetness,

As it filled the morning air,

Sounding in its blest completeness,

Like a tender, pleading prayer;

And I sought to find the singe,

Where the wondrous song was borne;

And I found a bird, quite wounded,

Pinned down by a cruel thorn.

 

I have been a soul in sadness

While its wings with pain were furled,

Giving hope, and cheer and gladness

That should bless a weeping world

And I knew that life of sweetness,

Was of pain and sorrow borne,

And a stricken soul was singing,

With its heart against a thorn.

 

You are told of One who loved you,

Of a Savior crucified,

You are told of nails that held Him,

And a spear that pierced His side;

You are told of cruel scourging,

Of a Savior bearing scorn,

And He died for your salvation,

With His brow against a thorn.

 

You “are not above the Master.”

Will you breathe a sweet refrain?

And His grace will be sufficient,

When your heart is pierced with pain.

Will you live to bless His loved ones,

Though your life be bruised and torn,

Like the bird that sang so sweetly,

With its heart against a thorn?

 

V V V V V V V V V V

 

Day by Day

Written by Eloise Speer

Submitted by Sister Brenda Bailey

 

Daniel 6:16, 20 “Then the king commanded, and they brought Daniel, and cast him into the den of lions.  Now the king spake and said unto Daniel, Thy God whom thou servest continually, he will deliver thee.  And the king spake and said to Daniel, O Daniel, servant of the living God, is thy God, whom thy servest continually, able to deliver thee from the lions?

 

            We all know the story.  “Yes, my God is able to deliver me.  He came down and shut the lions’ mouths.  I’m safe, O King.”  The king did not want to harm Daniel for he knew he was an honest and honorable man, one he could depend on.  I am sure, then as well as now, there was not an abundance of men like that in the entire kingdom.  After a restless, sleepless night, the king came to the lions’ den and called to Daniel, “Was thy God able to deliver you from the lions?”  How wonderful it is to know that this great God of Daniel’s is still alive and has not changed.  He is still able to deliver His children from anything. 

            I often think as I am passing through a trial or test, “My Jesus is with me in every furnace of affliction, in every lions’ den I am thrust into.”  He did not say He would prevent us from having to go through these things.  He just promised that He would go with us.  Daniel said, “Why, King, last night I had an angel visit me.  He came right into the lions’ den.”  Perhaps Daniel saw the angel touch each lion and shut their mouths.  How thrilling!  Can’t you just imagine how you would feel if an angel came into your room?  We would probably try to detain him to have at least a little chat.  Daniel must have felt unworthy of even this special visitor.  The great thing for us to remember is that God still dispatches angels to help those who serve Him.  Daniel was a servant of the living God, and we, too, can still be servants today of this living God.  In our hour of desperation we can touch God.  He is able to deliver us from any trap Satan sets for us.

 

1 John 4:18

 

Dark clouds of trial, when committed to the Lord, bring showers of blessings.

 

My Advocate

By: Martha Snell Nicholson

Submitted by Sister Beth Kast

 

I sinned.  And straightway, post-haste, Satan flew

Before the presence of the most high God,

And made a railing accusation there.

He said, “This soul, thing of clay and sod,

Has sinned.  ‘Tis true that he named Thy name,

But I demand his death, for Thou hast said,

Thy sentence be fulfilled? Is justice dead?

Send now this wretched sinner to his doom.

What other thing can a righteous ruler do?”

And thus he did accuse me day and night,

And every word he spoke, O God, was true!

 

Then quickly One rose up from God’s right hand,

Before Whose glory angels veiled their eyes.

He spoke, “each jot and tittle of the law

Must be fulfilled; the guilty sinner dies!

But wait-suppose his guilt were all transferred

To Me and that I paid his penalty!

Behold My hands, My side My feet!  One day

I was made sin for him, and died that he

Might be presented, faultless, at Thy throne!”

And Satan fled away. Full well he knew

That he could not prevail against such love,

For every word my dear Lord spoke was true!

 

V V V V V V V V V V

 

The Heated Times

By Sister Lynne Conley

 

Scripture Text: And he spake before his brethren and the army of Samaria, and said, What do these feeble Jews? will they fortify themselves? will they sacrifice? will they make an end in a day? will they revive the stones out of the heaps of the rubbish which are burned? (Nehemiah 4:2 KlV)

 

One of the deadliest fires in American history was the ‘’ The Peshtigo Fire’’. On Sunday, October 8, 1871, the path was Michigan and Wisconsin, in addition to the cities Peshtigo, Holland, Manistee, and Port Huron. At least 1,200 people died, and approximately 800 fatalities occurred in Peshtigo, Wisconsin. That same night, the great Chicago fire erupted. The conditions were just right for a fire. The winds were blowing southwesterly; the winds blew like a hurricane so it made is impossible for the fire fighters to extinguish the fire. There was a huge wood bark pile at the Cappen & Bertch, a building where animal’s skins and hides were tanned. This building and The Third Reformed Church in the southern part of the city were among the first to be attacked by the fire. This destructive fire was like a wild beast. No one really knows exactly how the fire started in Chicago. At the beginning of the fire there was supposedly an eye witness at the home of Catherine and Patrick O’Leary’s barn. A rumor was all over town that Mr. O’Leary’s cow was responsible for knocking over an oil-burning lamp setting the straw on fire. Whatever the cause of the fire, over 300 Chicagoans were dead. Over 90,000 of 500,000 residents were left homeless. Four square miles were leveled, including the business district. Soon Chicago was rebuilt with new fire regulations. Many people were burnt as well. Many times it’s dreaming or thinking that our lives should be a certain way: By getting married, having a bunch of children, a big white house with a white picket fence, a dog, or a cat, two vehicles, a family that loves everybody, and with a promising future without any interruptions. Let’s face it, friends; we are living in a real world. Every person is facing some kind of circumstances.  The heartaches I face today may possibly be yours tomorrow. We never know what a day will bring to us… We have to practice what we preach and be there for each other. Stay Encouraged!

Let us all remember in our prayers daily: All the many individuals suffering with all kinds of pain and heartaches. All the individuals with cancer, heart related problems, diabetes, mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually sick people everywhere. All those individuals that have the authority over our churches, our communities, our jobs, our government, our politicians, our leaders, homeless individuals, the many people who have lost their loves ones, all the elderly in the nursing homes, the shut ins… that each day that someone will give them all a kind word, and a phone call or a card in the mail from their children. Let’s not forget all the little children with cancer at St. Jude’s hospital, the trauma units, all those individual are in financial ruin. Our service men and women as they are in harm’s way, they are protecting our freedom.