Nothing Between

This is a 500 word composition that my 13 year old daughter wrote for her Christian Growth PACE. I think that she has done an excellent job of keeping to the subject, and I am really happy with her essay writing skills.The subject matter, Soul-Winning, is one of extreme importance in the life of a Christian.

Soul–Winning

Soul-winning is very important to the life of a Christian, and it is a climax in the victorious life. It is the matter dearest to the heart of God. We are told that Heaven rejoices at the salvation of one sinner. If you want to do what is right and be occupied with what pleases God most, win souls.

Soul-winning is such a worthy goal that it is one of the things that makes life worth living. A great goal can straighten everything out in a young Christian’s life. It is the greatest thing in the world, and has a reward for millions of years to come. The Bible says, “The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise” (Proverbs 11:30). He is wise, not only for this world, but also for the next world to come. The soul-winner has the best opportunity to live a victorious life.

God cares so much for His soul-winners that he places a wall of protection around them. He who does not win souls may be handicapped and give in to temptation. Every branch (Christian) that brings forth fruit is cleansed by the Husbandman (God) so that it can grow more fruit. “Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away, and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit” (John 15:2). How dear to God are his soul-winners who bear the burden of Jesus for dying sinners.

When the Israelites entered Canaan, God told them that they were not to use fruit trees for timber, but they were allowed to use oak trees or trees which did not bear fruit. “Only the trees which thou knowest that they be not trees for meat, thous shalt destroy and cut them down; and thou shalt build bulwarks against the city that maketh war with thee, until it be subdued” (Deuteronomy 20:20) God meant this as a lesson to the Israelites. God will protect his fruit trees from the destroyer who is turned against unfruitful Christians.

By not winning souls, a Christian is living in disobedience, and is not occupied with the thing that concerns God the most. He is not obeying the Great Commission, and will doubtless fall into other sins. Soul-winning is a protected highway that is blessed for God’s saints. C. A. Tindley wrote a poem about the Christian life.

Nothing between my soul and the Saviour,

Naught of this world’s delusive dream;

I have renounced all sinful pleasure,

Jesus is mine; let nothing between.

Nothing between like worldly pleasure;

Habits of life though harmless they seem,

Must not my heart from Him ever sever,-

He is my all, let nothing between.

Nothing between, e’en many hard trials,

Though the whole world against me convene;

Watching with prayer and much self-denial,

I’ll triumph at last with nothing between.

Nothing between my soul and the Saviour,

So that his blessed face may be seen;

Nothing preventing the least of His favour,

Keep the way clear! Let nothing between.

C. A. Tindley

Worldly Things

Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 1 John 2:15

If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. John 15:19

What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s. 1 Corinthians 6: 19, 20

For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ. Ga 1:10

What do you wear? Is it important? Are the things that you wear the latest fashion, jeans maybe, or the latest miniskirt? What does God think of the things of this world?

We are told, as Christians, that we are set apart for His service, and that the world will hate us, regardless of what we do, so why do we seek to become more like the world with our dress – both male and female?

We should always aim to please God in all that we do, and to dress in a manner befitting the honour and glory that God deserves. We are called upon to be lords and ladies of the King of Kings – does our clothing reflect His glory, or are we more like prostitutes and pimps?

We are told in the Bible that we are the temple of God’s Holy Spirit, and as such we make up the church. What does God see when He looks at us? Does He see a people set apart for His service, seeking to please Him, or does He see a people seeking to live in the world, wearing what the world wears and living in the way that the world lives? What sets us apart from the world?

When the Going gets Tough…

When the going gets tough, the tough get going! How many times have you heard that saying, but what does it really mean?

In our home just recently, my husband’s knee has been really painful – you see, he needs a total knee replacement, or at the very least an arthroscopy to remove the floating bone from the kneecap, so he has been spending a great deal of his time laying down resting. After an hour or so resting, he can do more work, but it is REALLY painful. Now, this wouldn’t be so bad, except that my back has also been very sore since I fell down the cellar steps, so…

…I praise God that we are homeschooling, as the children have been terrific – helping with the housework, extra dishes, feeding the animals and giving our poor little orpan, Alexandria, her bottle, which she is still having twice a day.

God tells us to “Count it all joy when you fall into diverse temptations, knowing that the trying of your faith worketh patience“. This is one verse that I am really trying to hold onto at the moment, as I want my faith to be strengthened through the trials that we encounter, but we are facing a  l – o – n -  g  cold winter unless my husband’s knee makes a miraculous recovery, as there won’t be any firewood, and the temperature here gets down to -8C (yes, that’s minus eight!) so I would like to ask you to pray for the complete recovery of his knee. Each winter we use a full woodshed of wood, as we have three asthmatics in our home, and if the temperature drops at night, we all start coughing. At the moment, the woodshed is less than one-eighth full.

I’m sure that God knows what He is doing, and that our faith will be strengthened as a result of our faith in the one true God, but we do need prayer at the moment for:~

• healing for my husband’s knee so that he can fill the woodshed with wood before winter arrives, as the nights are already becoming colder
• either an arthroscopy to remove the floating bone from the knee or a total knee replacement, and soon
• healing for my back

Homeschooling has taken on a whole new meaning during the last couple of weeks, as there has been much more than book learning taking place. There is far more to be learned at the moment than what can be gleaned from books, such as honouring and obeying their parents; and knowing that they will have long life on the earth if they obey God’s commands. In Godly homes, the children have a responsibility to take care of their aged parents (1 Timothy 5: 4, 8; Mark 7: 9 -13).

God knows what He is doing, but sometimes I just wish that He would fill me in on the finer details, or perhaps not. He’s certainly striving to strengthen my our faith in Him.

Praise God…

Saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee. Hebrews 2:12

• …for His abundant blessings to us – our new church, wonderful fellowship and a message preached straight from God’s ♥, food on the table, a pool to keep cool in and money to pay for petrol and to pay the bills.

• …for answered prayer about a new church, and the responses from our fellow church friends about our departure. May God preserve the friendships that we have made.

• …that He is always there for us and with us. Sometimes we just need to take the next leap of faith. Sometimes this leap seems more like jumping into an abyss, but we know that God is faithful and is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.

• …for my husband and answered prayer, whose knee went crack during our church service and is now feeling very much better. Thank you to everyone who has been praying for healing for his knee. This week I would like to ask you to pray for the rash on his hands and the splits in his fingers. It’s something about this time of year that his hands don’t like, and we haven’t worked it out, yet.

• …for our children, who have stepped to the fore during the last couple of weeks, while my husband’s knee has been extremely painful – they have been feeding goats, herding goats in to the yard for milking, cooking, ironing and doing extra lots of dishes.

• …for granted travelling mercies when we have needed them, especially as we have run out of tyre patches, and our road is VERY rough, puncturing tyres with monotonous regularity, and we only travel it at 45km/h.

• ….for friends – IRL friends, blogging friends and internet friends who continue to challenge our minds and our understanding of the Word of God.

• …for God’s Word - may we always treasure the freedoms that we have in this beautiful, wide, brown land of ours, for there are countries where ownership of a Bible is strictly prohibited and church meetings are done in secret, under penalty of certain imprisonment, beating or even death.

• …that He doesn’t leave me where I am in my faith, but continually challenges me to grow in Him. May I always seek to walk worthy of the trust that He has placed in me.

Jennifer, from My Chocolate ♥ hosts Praise, and I thank her for hosting this – it helps me to focus on God and his abundant blessings toward us. If you would like to see more “Praise” posts, head on over to My Chocolate Heart , and oh, don’t forget to leave a comment, I’m sure that she’d be pleased to hear from you.

Do we Remember to give Praise and Gratitude for all that God has done in our Lives?

We have recently begun going to a new church, and the Pastor’s message is excellent. I take notes whilst in church, and  phoned our Pastor today to ask whether he would mind me posting my study notes onto my blog – his answer was that he wouldn’t mind, so here is today’s message. I enjoy taking notes,  as in the process of taking notes, much more of  the sermon is remembered, and I can meditate on God’s Word in the afternoon.

And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off:
And they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.
And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed.
And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God,
And fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan.
And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine?
There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger.
And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.

Luke 17: 12-19

Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you.

Hebrews 4: 8

Three Main Points:

1. Rejection
2. Healing
3. Great Achievement

The ten men in Luke 17 : 12-19 had leprosy (skin conditions) and were rejected by society and their own families. They were forced to live together in groups outside the village (Numbers 5:2). Rejection is as alive today as it was then. The lepers in India are just as isolated and rejected as these lepers were, and yet, they could be healed for the cost of a cup of capuccino. These ten lepers were totally rejected, and they expected Jesus to reject them just as everybody else did. No matter who rejects you, God doesn’t!

Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. In our Christian walk with God, who makes the first move? God waits for us to draw near to Him, so it is up to us to make the first move.

The ten men experienced God’s love and affection through Jesus Christ. Jesus said to the men, “Go and show yourself to the priest.” This would usually only happen if they were healed – the priest would pronounce that they were healed, and that they could return to live with their families. In this case, however, the men weren’t healed, but during their journey to see the priest, something miraculous happened. As they went, they were cleansed – it was their faith that made them whole.

The things that God does in our lives don’t have to make sense. The ten men didn’t know why they had to go to the priest – they “Just did it“. Change happens step by step. You never know which step is going to lead to victory in your situation. We need to keep plodding away on our faith walk, and God will do what God wants to do in our lives.

Jesus saw the ten men as if they were already healed, and Jesus sees you as if you have already overcome the obstacles in your life. God will deal with your situation. Only one of the ten men came back to thank Him, and interestingly, the one thankful one was a Samaritan. Jesus wants us to give Him thanks, too. We deserve nothing, but we have so much to be thankful for.

Where are we in our faith walk with God?  Has your faith made you whole? Do we remember to give praise and gratitude for all that God has done in our lives? Jesus wants you not to have to deal with the pain of hurt and rejection – give it all over to Him, and remember never to take God’s blessings for granted.