"Save changes?"grace cascading over the waterfall

A friend of mine posted a comment one day that got me thinking.
She said,"At the end of the day, life should ask us, ‘Do you want to save the changes?"



I thought first that there are some days I WOULD PREFER not to save changes. 

I then thought my faith would say that even the hardest times work for good even if I cannot see it at the time. I remembered earlier in the month reading a blog post that quoted,

"Providence is actually so contemporary that it anticipates how vastly different things often seem from our perspective. Rarely does it feel like every event in our lives is for our good. But providence, in its mysterious movements, flanks the arguments about how we may feel and compels our faith in the God who is doing “ten thousand times more” than we realize."

"Be revived, encouraged, comforted, God is fulfilling his purpose for you." (Jonathan Parnell)

God will fulfill His Purpose for you
















I then thought how we seldom see or know what the future holds and if the decisions about the future were in my control I may not orchestrate the ending as well as God who works for our good by His Grace. Life has it's challenges and turns but God's grace is at every turn to strengthen us; past, present and future!

"God’s grace is ever cascading over the waterfall of the present from the inexhaustible river of grace coming to us from the future into the ever-increasing reservoir of grace in the past."(John Piper)

Photo by Erin- PNW

"Grace, in the New Testament, as we have seen, is not only God’s disposition to do good for us when we don’t deserve it — undeserved favor. It is also a power from God that acts in our lives and makes good things happen in us and for us. Paul said that we fulfill our resolves for good “by his power” (verse 11). And then he adds at the end of verse 12, “according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.” That power that actually works in our lives to make Christ-exalting obedience possible is an extension of the grace of God.

Therefore this grace which moves in power from God to you at a point in time is both past and future. It has already done something for you or in you and therefore is past. And it is about to do something in you and for you, and so it is future — both five seconds away and five million years away.
God’s grace is ever cascading over the waterfall of the present from the inexhaustible river of grace coming to us from the future into the ever-increasing reservoir of grace in the past. In the next five minutes, you will receive sustaining grace flowing to you from the future, and you will accumulate another five minutes’ worth of grace in the reservoir of the past. "(John Piper)

Sermon link

http://www.desiringgod.org/sermons/living-by-faith-in-future-grace

"We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers, as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing. .. 11 To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power, 12 so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ." (2 Thessalonians 1:3. 11-12,)

Each day we have  new mercies. Although most days are auto save and we do not have the option to save changes we do have the option of starting each day with a fresh awareness of God's grace and trusting in a broader plan than our small view if things. The imperfection and flaws of the past somehow are covered by the cross and we are clean as the fresh fallen snow in His eyes.

We can reflect the sparkle of saving grace even-though we are like diamonds in the rough-- having exceptional qualities or potential but lacking refinement or polish.

Each day cuts, refines and shapes us and makes us more like Christ.

Grace in which I Stand- Keith Green

Erin Photo - Oregon

"..wilderness turned into a good land."

The week started with a fortune cookie that i usually do not take very seriously but it was an interesting statement- "The first step in making a dream come true is to wake up!"  It doesn't take much for my flight of thoughts to get going and I started connecting a reading from that morning.

 During a morning reading I read  Isaiah 35 and it got me thinking about how we need to have hope for the future and our dreams. HOPE, overcomes our weakness and gives the strength we need to stand firm as we go forward with our work on this earth.

" The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad; the desert shall rejoice and blossom like the rose and the autumn crocus..... Strengthen the weak hands and make firm the feeble and tottering knees." ( Is 35: 1,3).

I recalled a picture I had taken at  Gettysburg Battlefield in the Autumn. 

Colorful flowers in the middle of a dry field ...

hope in the middle of a wilderness.

I read Matthew Henry's commentary on Is 35:1-4 and it stated;
This is the design of the gospel, 1. To strengthen those that are weak and to confirm them—the weak hands, which are unable either to work or fight, and can hardly be lifted up in prayer, and the feeble knees, which are unable either to stand or walk and unfit for the race set before us. The gospel furnishes us with strengthening considerations, and shows us where strength is laid up for us. Among true Christians there are many that have weak hands and feeble knees, that are yet but babes in Christ; but it is our duty to strengthen our brethren (Lu. 22:32 ), not only to bear with the weak, but to do what we can to confirm them, Rom. 15:1 ; 1 Th. 5:14 . It is our duty also to strengthen ourselves, to lift up the hands which hang down (Heb. 12:12 )

Later in the day I was reading about a Civil war battle in a book   "A Stillness At Appomattox" by Bruce Catton. The  Battle of the Wilderness was hard even to read about. The loss was great on both sides and included fires that encroached upon wounded soldiers. 

[In the Wilderness] numbers meant little—in fact, they were frequently an encumbrance on the narrow trails. Visibility was limited, making it extremely difficult for officers to exercise effective control. Attackers could only thrash noisily and blindly forward through the underbrush, perfect targets for the concealed defenders. In attack or retreat, formations could rarely be maintained. In this near-jungle, the Confederates had the advantages of being, on the whole, better woodsmen than their opponents and of being far more familiar with the terrain. Federal commanders were forced to rely upon maps, which soon proved thoroughly unreliable.
Col. Vincent J. Esposito, West Point Atlas[15]

I saw many wounded soldiers in the Wilderness who hung on to their rifles, and whose intention was clearly stamped on their pallid faces. I saw one man, both of whose legs were broken, lying on the ground with his cocked rifle by his side and his ramrod in his hand, and his eyes set on the front. I knew he meant to kill himself in case of fire—knew it is surely as though I could read his thoughts.
Private Frank Wilkeson[21]



So i started thinking a few things from Is. 35

• What allows the rose to bloom in the desert? 

Cultivation, care and water would certainly help,

• How to we keep enthusiasm for the long haul, and seeing the meaning in trials or perplexing circumstances?
• The Union Reserve soldiers were not enthusiastic about entering the Wilderness Battle since only 27 days remained before being sent home!

• How do we prepare for those stark times of trial when we need provision? 
• A glimpse of a field with hay bales quickened me to realize we care for the livestock through winter by preparation and hard work to store provisions. Likewise as we go through life we devote ourselves to the Word to build into our lives those views and convictions we need to get us through the wintry times.

One scripture that helps me see the broad view of the daily struggles that do not have answers or gives strength to persevere to the end -

2 Corinthians 4:15-17 (Amplified Bible)

15 For all [these] things are [taking place] for your sake, so that the more grace (divine favor and spiritual blessing) extends to more and more people and multiplies through the many, the more thanksgiving may increase [and redound] to the glory of God.

16 Therefore we do not become discouraged (utterly spiritless, exhausted, and wearied out through fear). Though our outer man is [progressively] decaying and wasting away, yet our inner self is being [progressively] renewed day after day.

17 For our light, momentary affliction (this slight distress of the passing hour) is ever more and more abundantly preparing and producing and achieving for us an everlasting weight of glory [beyond all measure, excessively surpassing all comparisons and all calculations, a vast and transcendent glory and blessedness never to cease!],

General Grant's action after the Wilderness has been considered a turning point in the war. Likewise we have turning points in our on lives, defining moments, when we respond in faith though everything around us is not hopeful.

Both flanks had been badly bruised, and [Grant's] 17,500 casualties in two days exceeded the Confederate total by at least 7,000. Under such circumstances previous Union commanders in Virginia had withdrawn behind the nearest river. Men in the ranks expected the same thing to happen again. But Grant had told Lincoln "whatever happens, there will be no turning back."
While the armies skirmished warily on May 7, Grant prepared to march around Lee's right during the night to seize the crossroads village of Spotsylvania a dozen miles to the south. If successful, this move would place the Union army closer to Richmond than the enemy and force Lee to fight or retreat. All day Union supply wagons and the reserve artillery moved to the rear, confirming the soldiers' weary expectation of retreat. After dark the blue divisions pulled out one by one.

But instead of heading north, they turned south. A mental sunburst brightened their minds. It was not another "Chancellorsville ... another skedaddle" after all. "Our spirits rose," recalled one veteran who remembered this moment as a turning point in the war. Despite the terrors of the past three days and those to come, "we marched free. The men began to sing." For the first time in a Virginia campaign the Army of the Potomac stayed on the offensive after its initial battle.[36]
— James M. McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom

So  we can stay on the offensive against all that would try to lead us astray and allow us to drift from Christ and the message. So keep reaching and pursuing the dreams that captured your heart.
God's grace enables us to be a light in a cold, weary, place and time.

 

"..contend for the faith.."

How do we contend for the truth? How do we pass this on from generation to generation without fail?

How do we cultivate meekness yet contend for the faith against religions that use other books than the Bible or traditions for beliefs that void the Word?

How do we stay green and alive and firm during very pressing times that are challenging to our faith?

"Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints." Jude 3

Read a Charles Spurgeon sermon # 112 today and these words got me:

The War of Truth - CHS Sermon #112 

"And now I am to close up with just a few remarks..TO STIR YOU UP TO THE WARFARE. Remember, O children of God, that there are many things that should make you valiant for God and for his truth. The first thing I will bring to your remembrance is the fact, that this warfare in which you are engaged is an hereditary warfare; it is not one which you began, but it is one which has been handed to you from the moment when the blood of Abel cried aloud for vengeance. Each martyr that has died has passed the blood-red flag to the next, and he in his turn has passed it on to another. Every confessor who has been nailed to the stake to burn, has lit his candle, and handed it to another, and said, "Take care of that!" And now here is the old "sword of the Lord and of Gideon." Remember what hands have handled the hilt; remember what arms have wielded it; remember how often it has "pierced to the dividing asunder of the joints and marrow." Will you disgrace it. Will you disgrace it? There is the great banner: it has waved in many a breeze; long ere the flag of this our land was made, this flag of Christ was born aloft, Will you stain it? Will you stain it? Will you not hand it to your children, still unsullied, and say, "Go on, go on; we leave you the heritage of war; go on, go on, and conquer. What your fathers did, do you again; still keep up the war, till time shall end." I love my Bible because it is a Bible baptized with blood; I love it all the better, because it has the blood of Tyndal on it; I love it, because it has on it the blood of John Bradford, and Rowland Taylor, and Hooper; I love it, because it is stained with blood. I sometimes think I like the baptismal pool because that has been stained with blood, and is now upon the continent, forbidden by law. I love it, because I see in it the blood of men and of women who had been martyred, because they loved the truth. Will you not, then, stand by the banner of truth, after such an illustrious pedigree of warriors have held it in their hands? "

These ferns stay green under a foot of snow though pressed down- they are still green and have life.

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Cor 12:8-10)

Remember the great intercessor; Christ is on the hill, and whilst you are in the valley he pleads, and must prevail, therefore, go on, and conquer, for Christ's sake! (CHS)

" For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God. So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison," (2 Cor 4:15-17)

"a better way"

I was listening to a song "A Better Way by Downhere this morning. I recall listening to this song when the Iraq war was going on in 2007-08. I also was reading an article about Iraq today.

the verse in the song

Your sacrifice has spoken, You gave everything

And “I love you” could not be said

A better way 

speaks to a scripture that is a sure foundation-

John 15:13
Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.

A Better Way- Downhere

I'm not alone, I really believe
You never go, You never leave
Here and now, You always stay
“I love you” could not be said a better way

It's everything You've promised
There's no greater love than this
From prophets until today
A man laying down His life for His friends
Your sacrifice has spoken, You gave everything
And “I love you” could not be said
A better way

I am forgiven, I clearly see
It's why You came to do all you did for me
Trading earth with heaven, You took my place
“I love you” could not be said
A better way

It's everything You've promised
There's no greater love than this
From prophets until today
A man laying down His life for His friends
Your sacrifice has spoken, You gave everything
And “I love you” could not be said
A better way

Because You redeem, I know what's to come
Everything I could lose here, You've already won
So You have my surrender, with passion obey
“I love you” could not be said
A better way

It's everything You've promised
There's no greater love than this
From prophets until today
A man laying down His life for His friends
Your sacrifice has spoken, You gave everything
And “I love you” could not be said
A better way

The article in the paper today got me thinking about all the men and women who died in the battle to free the city Fallujah back in 2004 and to the end of the war and how the natural tendency would be for readers to think that it was in vain since the center city has now fallen again.That is exactly what the paper read and it concerned and troubled me.

Iraq city falls 

By Associated Press, Published: January 4

"BAGHDAD — The city center of Iraq’s Fallujah has fallen completely into the hands of fighters from the al-Qaida-linked Islamic State in Iraq and Levant, police said Saturday, yet another victory for the hardline group that has made waves across the region in recent days.

In Fallujah, where Marines fought the bloodiest battle of the Iraq war in 2004, the militants appeared to have the upper hand, underscoring the extent to which the Iraqi security forces have struggled to sustain the gains made by U.S. troops before they withdrew in December 2011.

The upheaval also affirmed the soaring capabilities of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), the rebranded version of the al-Qaeda in Iraq organization that was formed a decade ago to confront U.S. troops and expanded into Syria last year while escalating its activities in Iraq. Roughly a third of the 4,486 U.S. troops killed in Iraq died in Anbar trying to defeat al-Qaeda in Iraq, nearly 100 of them in the November 2004 battle for control of Fallujah, the site of America’s bloodiest confrontation since the Vietnam War.
Events Friday suggested the fight may have been in vain."

I have always held the view and also today thought that no- this was not in vain and was a worthy cause and that many times in this earthly life we serve and some give their lives that others may live and this is similar to the self-sacrifice of Christ for us and that many gave their last devotion for my freedom, for Iraqi Freedom and we must not forget or let anyone say this was in vain.

Many missionaries have died serving and the thing they know in their heart is that a better , lasting life, will come and that today,our life on this earth, is temporary and not our final destiny.

It is this faith,  to know that what we can lose here Christ has already won.

Additionally, a soldier's resolve to be willing to give their life for a friend or a people is a sacrifice that will be rewarded in this life possibly but surely in the life to come and will never end.

Because You redeem, I know what's to come
Everything I could lose here, You've already won
So You have my surrender,

"In just a little while, the wicked will be no more;though you look carefully at his place, he will not be there.

But the meek shall inherit the land and delight themselves in abundant peace.(Psalm 37:10-11)

We see through natural means and doubt at times but we have to trust and believe that the words we read in the Bible are true concerning great love for one another and the rewards.

Jesus spoke clearly to us 

" It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life." (Jon 6:63)

and His blessing then is the same to us today to see be beyond current uncertainty and trust and believe our lives and efforts are not in vain because He  -Because You redeem, I know what's to come

Everything I could lose here, You've already won

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

 (Matt 5: 9-10 ESV)