SLEEP IN SAFETY

Time with Jesus - Wednesday, 20 June 2012

Hi all,

Today’s meditation is my version of Psalm 91. It’s been rephrased into rhyme and metre. A short poem of Thanksgiving for sleep is also included.

Blessings

Jim & Phyllida Strickland

Matt 10:8 Freely you received, Freely give		Time with Jesus – Wednesday, 20 June 2012			Matt 10:8 Freely you received, Freely give
©	These devotionals are the intellectual property of Jim Strickland and copyright protected. You are welcome to copy and distribute them to anyone provided it is for non-commercial Christian purposes					©
	INTRODUCTION		DAILY LIGHT EVENING SCRIPTURES	SLEEP IN SAFETY
I think I’ve mentioned it before. If not, please be aware that I don’t know Hebrew or Greek. I’ve picked up the odd word or two, but not enough to do any damage. When necessary, I’ve looked at Strong’s numbers and they’ve been very helpful. (Obtainable for free www.e-sword.net ) This means, that for a number of years, I was under the misapprehension that Hebrew poetry and English poetry, are the same. They are not. Hebrew poetry is not written in rhyme and metre. It has a different construction, some of which comes through in the translation. This is not the place to go into the differences, Sufficient to say that in the Bible, where we see similar statements repeated in a different way, we can be reasonably certain that the translators have followed the Hebrew style. When I found this out, I felt a bit disappointed. It means that my insistence on rhyme and metre is an English trait rather than the way the Psalmists wrote. In spite of this, I have tried to express some of the Psalms in rhyme and metre. The challenge with this is trying to squeeze into English poetry the content of the various verses. It usually takes much longer and involves a certain amount of head scratching. Today I’ve included my “version” of Psalm 91. Originally attributed to Moses, this is one of the most “powerful” Psalms in the Psalter and a favourite in Pentecostal circles. I remember when I first met Phyllida; her eldest son was in the army, on the border. We were a bit nervous back then in 1981. We prayed this Psalm together, asking the Lord for His protection. He came home safely and was able to “give his mother away” at our wedding! (Thank you Stu) Two things usually go together when we are worried. I know we shouldn’t worry. But we do. Worry usually goes jointly with not being able to sleep. Yes, I know it’s silly and shows a lack of confidence in the Lord. But we still do it. Actually, sound sleep is a gift from the Lord. Proverbs tells us that wisdom and discretion are foundational for sweet sleep. But these qualities come from God. As it states in Proverbs; 24 If you lie down, you will not be afraid; when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet. Proverbs 3:24 ESV If you take the time to read Proverbs 3 you can see a number of “echoes” from Psalm 91. No doubt the writer – perhaps Solomon – picked up these threads from Moses’ Psalm? Sleep is a blessing. It’s something about which we should give thanks to God. Most of us forget to do it. It becomes another blessing we overlook in our prayers. Some years ago I wrote a short four line poem of thanksgiving for the blessing of sleep. I’ve included it here to underline Psalm 91. If He’s protecting you, thank Him for your sleep. Counting blessings is better than counting sheep!  Good night! – sweet dreams! Jim & Phyllida Strickland			3 You see me when I travel and when I rest at home. You know everything I do. Psalms 139:3 NLT 16 Jacob woke up from his sleep. He said, "GOD is in this place--truly. And I didn't even know it!" 17 He was terrified. He whispered in awe, "Incredible. Wonderful. Holy. This is God's House. This is the Gate of Heaven." Genesis 28:16-17 MSG 9 The eyes of the LORD search the whole earth in order to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to Him. What a fool you have been! From now on you will be at war." 2 Chronicles 16:9 NLT 8 I fall asleep in peace the moment I lie down because you alone, O LORD, enable me to live securely. Psalm 4:8 GW 9 If you make the LORD your refuge, if you make the Most High your shelter, 10 no evil will conquer you; no plague will come near your home. 11 For He will order His angels to protect you wherever you go. Psalms 91:9-11 NLT 24 When you lie down, you won't be afraid. When you lie down, you will sleep soundly. Proverbs 3:24 NIrV 2 It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep. Psalms 127:2 ESV	Psalm 91 1              Dwelling in the Shadow of the Sovereign Lord Most High                 Shows you are abiding with Him Who’s Almighty. 2              Surely You’re my fortress; in You I’ll always trust;                 This is my confession, “The Lord is true and just.” 3              Assuredly He’ll save you from the fowler’s deadly snare!                 The lethal pestilence may call and find you are not there! 4              His pinions will cover you; You’re underneath His wings.                 His faithful shield and buckler; a refuge He will bring. 5              You need not be in terror of that which comes at night.                 The arrows in the daytime will not put you to flight. 6              Don‘t fear the stalking pestilence that strikes when it is dark,                 The wasting noon destruction you’ll think is just a lark. 7              A thousand may confront you; Ten thousand may join in.                 But they will not draw near you. They all know you will win. 8              Your eyes will see the wicked, they’ll get just what is due;                 The recompense for everything which they have tried to do. 9              Because you’ve made the Lord Most High, the place in which    you dwell;                 He will be your refuge far more than words can tell. 10            No evil will come near you, no plague come near your tent 11            His angels; they will guard you, for that’s why they were sent! 12            They’ll bear you up upon their hands, ensuring you won’t slip;                 In case you stumble on a stone or accidentally trip. 13            The lion and the adder will be underneath your feet.                 The serpent and young lion by you will both be beat. 14            He will deliver all of those who hold fast in His love;                 He’ll certainly protect those who know Him high above. 15            When he calls I’ll answer him. He needn’t be afraid.                 I’ll rescue and will honour him. In trouble, I’m his aid! 16            With long life he’ll be satisfied; salvation he will know.                 These are the promises I make to those who dwell below. THANKS FOR SLEEP Thank You Father; I have slept, right throughout the night. Thank You that I feel refreshed, cheerful, clean and bright! Thank You for the blessed fact of rest when we are tired. Thank You that You satisfy far more than man's desired! Jim Strickland – Written 20th June 2012

KEEP ON, KEEPING ON.

Time with Jesus - Tuesday, 19 June 2012

Hi all,

Today’s meditation is all about the Christian life. It explains that it’s not easy; but that there’s no other option. 

Blessings

Jim & Phyllida Strickland

Matt 10:8 Freely you received, Freely give		Time with Jesus – Tuesday, 19 June 2012			Matt 10:8 Freely you received, Freely give
©	These devotionals are the intellectual property of Jim Strickland and copyright protected. You are welcome to copy and distribute them to anyone provided it is for non-commercial Christian purposes					©
	INTRODUCTION		DAILY LIGHT EVENING SCRIPTURES	KEEP ON, KEEPING ON
Education and qualifications go hand in hand today. Regardless of personal preferences or your chosen profession, you have to be qualified. It hasn’t always been like that. My mother tells me that after one week at pre-primary school I came home and told her that I knew everything so didn’t need to go back to school! I can’t remember what gave me that impression. My guess is that I didn’t like school. Being qualified for life, up to the time of WW2, probably equated to our Grade 10 today. Work was not too difficult to find and with enthusiasm and a willingness to learn “on the job”, it was quite sufficient for most people. Things began to change significantly by 1960. You had to have a matric to reach the upper echelons in business. Today, if you don’t have two degrees, you will not “rise to the top”. Fortunately, to qualify to become a Christian is the same as it has always been. All sinners qualify regardless of education, race or gender. It only applies to sinners. So if you aren‘t a sinner, you’re OK. The problem is, if say you are not a sinner, you are a liar and all liars are sinners! Paul in his letter to the Romans tells us, 23 For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God's glorious standard. Romans 3:23 NLT Everyone means – everyone! We’re all sinners. From Anglicans to Zen Buddhists. We are all in the same boat, on a free one way ticket to Hell. You may not believe there is a Hell. It is real; believe it or not. The question is how do we get off the boat? Again, it’s no great problem. Ask the Lord Jesus to save you. There’s no other way. If you prefer to stay on the devil’s boat, that’s up to you. He will let you! Jesus will rescue anyone and everyone who asks Him. He has a very ecumenical attitude toward rescuing sinners. It will require some changes in your life. He knows that. He is willing to provide you with supernatural assistance specifically for this purpose. There is only one condition. You have got to give him everything, including your life. You also have to agree to obey Him completely. He will then put you in a “canoe” and tell you to “paddle against the stream”. That will lead you to His Kingdom. So you have a choice. Row all the way into His Kingdom or sit back and relax on the devil’s boat. It will take you straight into Satan’s kingdom via going over something like the edge of Victoria Falls! Then you will be stuck there. So here’s your choice. A bit of strain and uphill to an eternity with Him, or carry on over the falls into an eternity without Him. The hard way is in your best interests. But it’s entirely up to you. Don’t let anyone tell you that Christianity is a life of idle, affluence. It doesn’t work like that. It’s a life of blood, sweat and tears. Know it before you ask Jesus to save you. But your canoe will only capsize if you let it. It’s the greatest challenge you will ever know. But it’s infinitely worth it. Jim & Phyllida Strickland			18 "Here's what I want you to do: Buy your gold from me, gold that's been through the refiner's fire. Then you'll be rich. Buy your clothes from me, clothes designed in Heaven. You've gone around half-naked long enough. And buy medicine for your eyes from me so you can see, really see. Revelation 3:18 MSG 29 Jesus said, "Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, 30 who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life. Mark 10:29-30 ESV 12 Dear friends, don't be surprised at the fiery trials you are going through, as if something strange were happening to you. 1 Peter 4:12 NLT 6 So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you have to endure many trials for a little while. 7 These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold--though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honour on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world. 1 Peter 1:6-7 NLT 10 God always gives you all the grace you need. So you will only have to suffer for a little while. Then God himself will build you up again. He will make you strong and steady. And he has chosen you to share in his eternal glory because you belong to Christ. 1 Peter 5:10 NIrV 33 I've told you all this so that trusting me, you will be unshakable and assured, deeply at peace. In this godless world you will continue to experience difficulties. But take heart! I've conquered the world." John 16:33 MSG	There isn’t a professional in Christianity! There’s ordinary people; the likes of you and me. There are no Christian Giants. No “favourites” with God. To think there is a hierarchy is truly rather odd. In Christ we are all equal. The women and the men. We may have different functions; some quite beyond our ken. We all start at the bottom. We progress going down. It’s service to our brothers that earns for us a crown. To ever be the greatest, you have to be the least. That’s how our dear Lord Jesus became our Great High Priest! When first we come to Jesus, our service has begun. And everything that happens won’t be a lot of fun. The trials and temptations that we all have to face, Each gets a little harder as we run in this race. The Master has assured us, that we will go through trials. And how do we confront them? We face them with a smile. For every time we’re tested and when we have passed through, We know that we are doing what Jesus told us to. Of course it isn’t easy. Instead, it’s very hard. Not sleeping in a deckchair within your own back yard. Satan tries to tempt us, to turn around and quit. He does his very best to prove, we’re totally unfit, To dwell in Jesus’ kingdom. So just lie down and rest. It really doesn’t matter. You’re sure to pass His test. But gutless Christianity, my friend is just a lie! To satisfy the Master, You’ve really got to die. Die to self-ambition and get into the grave. It’s only those who perish, whom Jesus Christ will save. Die to all you’re wanting, to every lust and greed Put aside your “everything” for He is all we need. If you think you can do it; believe me, you are wrong. It’s only at your weakest, that Jesus Christ is strong. No matter what you’ve given up, to follow Him each day, He has a great reward for you, for doing things His way! So keep on with your trusting; you won’t be here for long. You’ll be with Him forever if you keep on, keeping on. And when He comes to fetch you and bring you the reward. You’ll say, “Thank God it’s over and I am with You Lord.” Jim Strickland  Written 19th June 2012.

INCREASING FAITH

Time with Jesus - Monday, 18 June 2012

Hi all,

When the Lord talks about faith, I’ve often wondered what He meant. After all, the emphasis in the Christian life is to die so that He can live His life in and through me. This being the case, I’ve always struggled with the idea of me acquiring anything other than a hole in the ground. So how does this conform to faith to move mountains? This is the focus of today’s meditation.

Blessings

Jim & Phyllida Strickland

Matt 10:8 Freely you received, Freely give		Time with Jesus – Monday, 18 June 2012			Matt 10:8 Freely you received, Freely give
©	These devotionals are the intellectual property of Jim Strickland and copyright protected. You are welcome to copy and distribute them to anyone provided it is for non-commercial Christian purposes					©
	INTRODUCTION		DAILY LIGHT EVENING SCRIPTURES	INCREASING FAITH
At school, I loved playing cricket. I suppose we all go through fantasies in which we play a starring role in a vital position. Like going in to bat for South Africa at number eleven and scoring a century. Just enough to bring victory for the team. Team is a bit of a misnomer. You’ve done it all on your own. But you rose to the big occasion and, in imagination, basked in the glory of your fictitious achievement. This was very much in line with the “Teddy Lester” series of books many of us enjoyed. In the book, Teddy Lester always managed to perform some heroic sporting action that others would look at with envy. I’d be very surprised if I was the only person who liked books of this type. All of us, boys and girls, go through such fantasies. For the boys it was a major sporting achievement. For the girls it seems to be marrying the Prince of Wherever. I daren’t say any more. I might get into trouble with the ladies who read this. Some of us may remember the comics of the day. “Wizard”, Hotspur” etc. The characters were fascinating. Anyone remember Desperate Dan and his “cow pie”? How about Billy Bunter? All fuel for the imagination of growing children. There comes a time when such fantasies leave us. Then we become painfully aware of our limitations. I wasn’t much of a cricketer. I loved the sport. But there was little chance of playing for the school’s first eleven, never mind South Africa. Limited talent often redirects us into something more appropriate. When puberty arrived, along came all the new fantasies and ambitions and, if I dare say so, achievements. Never mind playing cricket. It was not nearly as much fun as imagining spending a couple of hours alone with Marylyn Monroe or one of the other screen “goddesses” we desired. For me, it never happened. Becoming a Christian changed all that. Not immediately. Some of it had to be worked through. Putting down the flesh is not easy for an eighteen year old. It also produced a number of different challenges. Believing that the Bible is the Word of God was the first one. Other issues emerged, each one requiring a different level of understanding. Things like integrity, honesty and holiness. I felt like an onion. Slowly but surely God progressively stripped away the various layers of junk and bad thinking in order to get down to the core. At times I wondered if there was anything in the middle of that onion that God could possibly use. Then He began to replace these layers with Christian fundamentals. His purpose was to build something from the debris of what remained. Put simply, he was busy producing in me the fruit of the Spirit. There’s still a long way to go. But He has time on His side and mine gets progressively shorter. I feel a little like the boy playing “chop sticks” on the great piano of life. It sounds rather discordant, but it’s the best I can do. Then the Maestro’s arms surround me and the discord of my music becomes an exquisite harmonic concerto! I’ve found this particularly useful in my understanding of faith. My faith in Him increases as His playing becomes more dominant. My part is to depend on Him. This, I feel, is the very essence of faith. It will never be what I can do. It will always be what His arms around me can achieve. This type of faith takes only a mustard seed in size and anything becomes possible. He casts mountains into the sea. With His arms around me it really becomes possible. The focus is never on me. It’s always on Him! Play on Maestro! Jim & Phyllida Strickland			20 He replied, "Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you." Matthew 17:20 NIV 8 Barak said to her, (Deborah) "If you will go with me, I will go, but if you will not go with me, I will not go." Judges 4:8 ESV 23 So on that day God subdued Jabin the king of Canaan before the people of Israel. Judges 4:23 ESV 27 So Gideon took ten of his servants and did as the LORD had commanded. But he did it at night because he was afraid of the other members of his father's household and the people of the town.36 Then Gideon said to God, "If You are truly going to use me to rescue Israel as You promised, Judges 6:27 & 36 NLT 39 Then Gideon said to God, "Please don't be angry with me, but let me make one more request. Let me use the fleece for one more test. This time let the fleece remain dry while the ground around it is wet with dew." 40 So that night God did as Gideon asked. The fleece was dry in the morning, but the ground was covered with dew. Judges 6:39-40 NLT 8 I know what you have done. See, I have opened a door in front of you that no one can shut. You only have a little strength, but you have paid attention to my word and have not denied my name. Revelation 3:8 GW 10 Who despised the day when little things began to happen? They will be delighted when they see the plumb line in Zerubbabel's hand. (These seven eyes of the LORD roam over all the earth.)" Zechariah 4:10 GW 3 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. 2 Thessalonians 1:3 ESV 5 The apostles said to the Lord, "Show us how to increase our faith." Luke 17:5 NLT 5 I will be to Israel like a refreshing dew from heaven. Israel will blossom like the lily; it will send roots deep into the soil like the cedars in Lebanon. 6 Its branches will spread out like beautiful olive trees, as fragrant as the cedars of Lebanon. Hosea 14:5-6 NLT	The maestro sat in silence, ‘til the audience was still; And then he started playing with unquestionable skill. His repertoire enormous, with the ability, To play the grand piano with exquisite mastery. He was a virtuoso. No matter what he played, The music “danced” before him, like soldiers on parade. Scott Joplin and Rachmaninov, he played with equal ease; He’d play on the piano, direct from memory. With beautiful expression and superb dexterity. The audience were spell-bound. He played his very best; And then there came the interval and time for him to rest. The theatre was part empty when a little boy of six, Walked to the piano and played on it “chop sticks”. The theatre started filling up. The boy was unaware, That everyone was watching him still on the maestro’s chair. He wasn’t very talented, but still he did his best. To “tinkle out” his “chop sticks” with a little schoolboy’s zest. And even when the maestro, came back to take his seat, The little boy kept playing his little “chop sticks” beat. The maestro let him carry on, then walked right up behind. It really was quite obvious, the maestro didn’t mind. He smiled at him and suddenly his eyes were filled with joy. He put his arms around the little “chop sticks” playing boy. He whispered. “Keep on playing” then he picked up the tune. He improvised on “chop sticks” until very, very soon The music they were playing, took on a quality, That people who were listening, thought was Divinity. They both continued playing; the maestro and the boy, Until the entire audience were clapping in their joy! The moral of the story? Who was it that had played? The truth is that together, they both were on parade. The Maestro could play anything. The little boy’s “chop sticks” Came into a harmony that hit them all for six. Our faith in God is like that. We fumble for a tune; And then the arms of Jesus come round us so that soon, The faith that He has given us is hardly seen at all; For He has multiplied it and it stands out ten miles tall! So let’s take our ability and all we cannot do, And give it to the Master, just as He’s told us to. Perhaps our faith is wavering, but when we’re in His arms, He whispers “keep on playing; there’s no need for alarm. If you will let me harmonise, the tune which we will play. Will multiply your faith in a most supernatural way. It isn’t “Faith” you’re needing, It’s more and more of Me. Then you will cast that mountain into the deep blue sea.” Jim Strickland  Written 18th June 2012