TOO BIG A THOUGHT

Time with Jesus - Sunday, 22 April 2012

Hi all,

Swaziland is great. I’ve spent the past few hours watching the trees grow. Not very stimulating or exciting; but very relaxing. Perfect for pensioners on holiday!

I’m still experimenting with an easier way to “blog” my poetry

Blessings

Jim & Phyllida Strickland

Time with Jesus – Sunday, 22 April 2012
INTRODUCTION		DAILY LIGHT EVENING SCRIPTURES					TOO BIG A THOUGHT
My father was sent to South Africa by his company in 1947. We arrived in Cape Town in the middle of January. I have only dim, indistinct memories of the sea voyage from Southampton to Cape Town on the Carnarvon Castle. At that time the ship was still built as a troop ship so the women and children were on one side and the men on the other. After the austerity of WW2 in UK, Mom told me years later that she thought she was seeing “fairyland” All the lights were on and rationing was a thing of the past. My fifth birthday took place two months later. I’ve got a couple of faint memories of war-time UK. So faint that I’m not sure if they were genuine or my imagination. There was one incident from those days which I’ll never forget. Somehow or other I managed to lock myself in a cupboard in my grand-parents’ house. The incident is unclear. The feeling of utter terror still lives in my memory. Sure, I was rescued “double quick” but that terror invaded my psyche and at times comes back. It’s probably demonic. But that doesn’t help a four year old child. A little later, in Durban in Glenwood, I was lying on my back on the hotel lawn and looking up at the sky. Suddenly the enormity of it “hit me” and that feeling of terror returned. It was a panic attack. After a while I calmed down but had these two memories that influenced me for more years than I prefer to remember. Satan was behind it and for many years I struggled with them. It took 48 years for me understand it. Why? Hadn’t Jesus delivered me from panic attacks when I was 18 and committed my life to Him? Yes and No! The sad thing is that it took 30 years before I could “walk in my healing”. Why? I don’t know. One thing I did establish was that it was part of a fear of death. Some folk would say Christian maturity; or immaturity, if you prefer. There is much truth in this. I suspect it sprang out of a feeling of being out of control. A four year old has no control over a cupboard door. A child has no control over the size of the universe! One truth is that the younger we are, the more we look forward and enjoy the prospect of life! We don’t want to die. The younger we are, the more we seek to prolong life. Now, at the other end of life, it’s good to know that although I share the same fear of death as the average Christian, it is no longer an issue. I’m not asking to die, but have realised that it’s inevitable. Moreover, as more and more bits of me cease to function with the precision they had 30 years ago, the more I’m looking forward to a resurrection body. I suppose I could say that the fear of death is slowly diminishing. Some day in the future when everything has shut down, I’ll go and be with Jesus. That’s exciting. Indeed, Paul commented that he was .looking forward to going home and his resurrection body 54 When this body that decays is changed into a body that cannot decay, and this mortal body is changed into a body that will live forever, then the teaching of Scripture will come true: "Death is turned into victory! 55 Death, where is your victory? Death, where is your sting?"1 Corinthians 15:54-55 GW. Sounds great to me! Jim and Phyllida Strickland		13 Great is your love for me. You have kept me from going down into the grave. Psalm 86:13 NIrV					We know it is inevitable, everyone must die. And yet although we know it, the thoughts just pass us by. We know it’s not attractive to think about our death. We think somehow we’ll miss it and fight for every breath. But it is an illusion. We’ll all be dead some day. Unless our Lord and Master “raptures” us away. For Jesus Christ can do it. He’s God and has the power, To stop us going to the grave on any day or hour. He’s done it for two others. He’s risen from the grave. He is in fact the only One Who has the power to save. Some other men have claimed this. But it is only lies. Which we will see the instant our mortal body dies. In any case, they’re people. The same as me and you. And saving anybody is something we can’t do. But Jesus Christ can do it. He is the One to fear. Yes! He has the ability to draw salvation near. He says He has redeemed us and called us all by name. No other man was good enough to take away sin’s shame. A man can’t save another. The cost is far too high. To think that I am good enough! “That’s pie up in the sky!” So I have been disqualified. I cannot do for me, What Jesus came and did for us upon Mount Calvary. A human life Is special; the cost is very steep. But Jesus died for all of us. That can’t be seen as cheap. The life of God is worth much more than all whom He has made. So if He died for all of us, the price is fully paid. So Jesus paid our ransom. He paid it with His blood. For all the sinful people He’d fashioned out of mud. He did it in His mercy; He did it by His grace. He did it so that wicked men could look Him in the face. It was His sense of justice He had to satisfy; And every sin demanded that someone had to die. All of us are sinners. It’s death we all must reap. A coffin is our future home where we will be “asleep” Then at the time decided He’ll call us from the grave. We’ll rise when He commands it and enter His enclave. We’ll be with Him in glory and death will then be dead. A thought that is a bit too big to squeeze into my head! Jim Strickland – Written 22nd April 2012.
		28 "Don't be afraid of those who want to kill your body; they cannot touch your soul. Fear only God, who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Matthew 10:28 NLT
		1 But now thus says the LORD, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: "Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. Isaiah 43:1 ESV
		11 I, yes I, am the LORD, and there is no other Saviour. Isaiah 43:11 NLT
		25 "I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins. Isaiah 43:25 ESV
		6 They trust in their wealth. They brag about how rich they are. 7 No man can pay for the life of anyone else. No one can give God what that would cost. 8 The price for a life is very high. No payment is ever enough. Psalms 49:6-8 NIrV
		24 He is merciful to him, and says, 'Deliver him from going down into the pit; I have found a ransom; Job 33:24 ESV
		4 But God is so rich in mercy, and He loved us so much, 5 that even though we were dead because of our sins, He gave us life when He raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God's grace that you have been saved!) Ephesians 2:4-5 NLT
		12 No one else can save us. Indeed, we can be saved only by the power of the one named Jesus and not by any other person." Acts 4:12 GW
Compiled – Sunday, 22 April 2012	P O Box 1694, Randpark Ridge, 2156, South Africa			Page 1 of 1	14 Conduit Street, Johannesburg North, 2153, South Africa			Printed - Sunday, 22 April 2012
Email - jim.s@telkomsa.net - ejsnpbs@gmail.com Phyllida@telkomsa.net	Mobile +2782 755 8872		Jim & Phyllida Strickland			Home+2711 462 4061; Neotel+2711 234 5670		Fax +2786 531 4962
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