Thursday, January 24, 2013

Never A Solo Flight


We have heard that the teaching or mentoring process goes like this:
1. Book learning and basic concepts
2. I do it, you watch.
3. I do it, you help.
4. You do it, I help.
5. You do it, I watch.
6. You do it all by yourself.  So for example, at this point, a pilot will make his or her first solo flight.

But in God's kingdom, it's not this way.  For He has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you."  (Hebrews 13:5)

So you're never alone or on your own anymore.  You never have your first "solo flight".

And that makes me very happy.

Larry Carroll

Saturday, January 19, 2013

They Weren't Faking It


Paul and Silas demonstrated that they really meant it, as was later written by Paul in Philippians 4:4 "Rejoice in the Lord always..."

Always.

In Acts 16:25 it says, "But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them...".

"The prisoners were listening to them" says that they weren't just barely, almost inaudibly, praising the Lord God in a whimper, licking their wounds so to speak.

No, Paul and Silas weren't faking it in the cold Philippian jail, with bloody, stinging backs and little creatures crawling all around.  No, they meant it.

They knew something that many others don't know:
The Lord God was still with them.
The Lord God is an exceedingly good God.


Oh, well we know that.

Yes we do.  We also need to know that, even though present circumstances are real, the presence and the promises of the Lord God were, and are, more true than present circumstances.  They are a superior truth.

Oh my.  Now don't get weird on me.

OK. Yes, I know, present circumstances can hurt really badly.  The enemy can use pain to argue that the Lord God has forsaken us, or is angry with us, or doesn't love us, or all sorts of bad things.

People have felt like that from the beginning.
Psalm 13 starts with "How long O Lord?  Will You forget me forever?"
Psalm 22 starts with, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?"

And yet by the end of each of these two Psalms, the author has crossed over to praise.

And we can, too.

Blessings,
Larry Carroll