Scripture Treasures

I waited patiently and expectantly for the Lord; and he inclined to me and heard my cry. He brought me up out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire. And he set my feet upon a rock, he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand ~ Psalm 40:1, 2 God moves in his time, not in ours, but he does not ignore us. When our hearts cry out to him, he hears and bends his ear toward us. We, however, expect him to move immediately on our time, and our patience runs low. It takes faith, patience and hope as we wait for the Lord to move on our behalf. When we wait patiently for the Lord to act, oh how he works! As the psalmist says, he was brought up out of the slimy pit, the mud and mire. What is the pit that you are in? Is it a pit of depression? Is a pit of financial stress? Is it a pit of abuse whether that is emotional or physical? All these tragedies of life are deep pits which trap us and bring us down. We feel caught, as though we are in quicksand, sinking deeper and deeper. ...

A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his dwelling ~ Psalm 68:5 When I grew up, most families were two parent families, well, at least where I grew up that is what one would find in the statistics. I know there are many children who have grown up without a father and in a single parent home. It leaves a scar, an opening for the enemy to make those feel as though they were not good enough or deserving enough to have both parents. There is a space which is left as a gaping hole when a parent is missing. It is the same when a partner dies, and one is left trying to fill in the openings the other person had so faithfully filled. New skills need to be learned, new challenges may arise daily. How did they do this? Or that? How did they manage the finances or turn on the breaker in the panel when I accidentally pop one because, guess what, I had too many things plugged in! When we live without the Lord in our life those gaps remain. Sometimes they grow, too. I know someo...

Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans ~ Proverbs 16:3 On Sunday I was reminded that we cannot order our plans, for we do not know what tomorrow will bring. The scriptures say our life is like grass, the wind blows over it and it is gone (Psalm 103:16). We make plans, but our life is gone before we know it, and our plans have not come to fulfillment for one reason or another. Even when we have good intentions with our plans, we do not know what may come up the next day which will take us away from our plan. Here we are told to commit to the Lord whatever we do, and he will establish our plans. This means I come to him in prayer and supplication, seeking his desires for my life. What does God have in mind for you or me today, or tomorrow, or a month from now? It does not mean I will be around even in a year to see the fruition of those plans, but they will be established through the power of God with me, or without me. It does mean that I will be a part o...

Trust the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight ~ Proverbs 3:5, 6 Trusting in the Lord is sometimes so hard for us. We think we can take charge, we can control it, we can manage without anyone’s help, thank you very much. I am strong, I am a woman, or I am a man, and I know exactly what I need to do to fix it! Do you ever think that way? I used to. I used to think I could do it all, that is, until I met the Lord and realized how much I could not do without him. Then, trust in myself withered away and trust in him grew. There is so much wisdom God has for us which is beyond what I can imagine, so when I would lean on my own understanding, I would miss the point, or the process, and I would be way off base. With the Lord’s understanding my eyes were opened to truth about situations when I placed my trust in him. It means that I have to fully submit to him, which is what our verse says. I hav...

For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil ~ 1 Peter 3:12 This is a promise for those of us who believe in a God who does not sway in his thoughts toward us. When we come to our God in prayer, when our hearts are right before him, our prayers are heard. The Lord does not promise our prayers will be answered the way we want, for his will for us and this world is what is most important to him. When we pray in his will because we are seeking his will, our prayers will be answered in a way that is a blessing to us and to others. God wants what is good for us and others. That does not mean we will not go through trials and testing. God places those on our path to strengthen our faith, our trust, and our hope in him. When we come through the other side of those trials, we are better able to pray for those who will experience what testing we have run the race of faith through. God desires th...

The Lord will be king over the whole earth. On that day there will be one Lord, and his name the only name ~ Zechariah 14:9 How we long for that day when the name of Jesus will be on every tongue and in every nation as the King of all kings! Then the pains of this world will be over and done with. There will be no more wars, or merciless killings. There will be no more destruction of life. People will live in harmony under one Ruler, under one Lord. Zechariah also says there will be living water flowing out of Jerusalem, and there will be no more distinction between night and day, for when evening comes, there will be light! This is hard to image as it is so wondrous compared to the world we are now living in. it is a dark and hardened world around us. We stand as Christians against a world which sees no hope, yet as we stand in faith, hope is all around us. We stand as Christians against a world which sees the end of life as a candle being snuffed out. We as Christians have the Ligh...

You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart ~ Jeremiah 29:13 God does not play “hide-and-seek” with us. We aren’t left running around in circles, desperately trying to find him, but he is hidden so well we cannot. Instead, he wants us to want him, and when our heart is crying out he responds. He opens up our world, our heart, our life and we are made whole in him. All that was kept hidden is revealed then when we ask for his Holy Spirit’s guidance and discernment. God wants relationship with us. We were created for relationship with him, but those who have chosen not to seek him unfortunately do not recognize this. Instead, they seek for riches and fame. They seek for success that is competitive and powerful, and prideful. Those things are not God’s things, unless they fit within God’s purposes for us. The Lord God wants our worship and our love from hearts which are committed to him in obedience. Seek him today with your whole heart, and he will answer your cry...

I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and fortress, my God, in whom I trust” ~ Psalm 91:2 There is only one place where I can run to in complete knowledge of safety – that is to run to my God. We are living in what seem to be more precarious times in 2022. The past two years as a world we have dealt with Covid-19, and now we look at a world which has a possibility of more violence than what we have encountered since WWII with Russia and its invasion of Ukraine. The world is turning more upside down than it has for many years. Am I afraid? I cannot say that I am for myself, yet I know as I look at my children and grandchildren I wonder what this world will bring for them. Jesus has promised us he will return, and we know not when, but we do know there will be much unrest in our world as his return draws closer. Are we in those times? We do not know. Only the Father knows, for not even the Son, Jesus Christ, knows. Whatever happens whether it be today, or in a year from now, all is ...

The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit ~ Psalm 34:18 We do not shed our tears alone, or in the company of another, without our Lord God knowing our pain. He is with us as we grieve and mourn. We could hide away in a closet and the Lord would be there, crouched down beside us, holding us in his arms. We think of any number of people who at this moment who are broken-hearted, and we wonder how to comfort them, what should we say, or do, to help them. And what comfort can be offered to us in our moment when all seems lost, and we feel forsaken? Grief grips us, our broken heart tied in a knot within, and the world around us crashes. Yet, in the midst of this crushing moment, the Lord sends those who will comfort, those who will bring relief to our pain, and scripture tells us God catches our shed tears in a bottle. In these dark days of covid, I think, (and I am sure you do too) of those who have lost loved ones during this time, and I think too ...

Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting ~ Psalm 139:23, 24 We are in the season of Lent, and it is the time of asking God to search our heart. It is not that we should not seek this at any time we come before the Lord, we should, and we ought. We do not want to have a heart that becomes hardened because of sin which enters in, but we constantly need the Holy Spirit to show us where we have fallen down. We do not want anything to block our prayers from entering the throne room of God, nor do we want broken relationships with those around us. Unless we are tested, and searched, and allow our openness to the God who tests us, we will gradually walk further and further away from him. It is not that we want to walk around acting like a pious and overly religious snob, for God does not want that to be what we display to those around us. But in our prayer closets, to open our heart t...

Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth ~ 1 John 3:18 How blessed we are that we follow a Lord who loves and teaches us to love not only with words but with actions and with truth. In our world there are those that believe in karma – what I do will come back to me. If I do good, good will come; if I do bad, bad will return. The love of God teaches us something very different – love no matter what. Jesus said if we love those who love us, we gain no credit. If we love our enemy, our reward is great. Throughout Jesus’ lifetime, he showed us how to love by his actions of loving the outcast, by healing the sick, the poor, and the distressed. His parable in Luke tells of a neighbour who came for bread late at night, and only by insistence was he given the bread. It is of course a message about insistent prayer, but it would have ended differently had the owner of the house said, “I will pray for you that bread will come.” Instead, bread was given ...

She opens her arms to the poor and extends her hands to the needy ~ Proverbs 31:20 We can look at this verse two ways in my mind. One, it is a personal caring for others. We are ready and willing to open our own cupboards and our closets to help those that are within our reach to help. It is what God calls us all to do, not only women, but all people. We have that duty to care for our neighbour. Jesus said, “Love God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest command. And the second is love your neighbour as yourself” (Matthew 22:37-39). We have a responsibility as Christ followers to treat others with care and concern, that is, if we care and have concern for ourselves which I hope we do. The second way I look at this is from the point of view of the church. Often a church is referred to as “she” and I am so grateful that the church in which I minister has a very caring benevolent ministry. If a church does not care, how can h...

Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God’” ~ Matthew 4:4 Yesterday, I preached from the Gospel of Luke, but the words match these words written by Matthew. I will requote from my sermon:   “We live in a world where we must know the Christian story to resist the false stories that take us captive. Satan offers us through Jesus a storyline of self-indulgence, self-glorification, and self-service. Both Satan and Jesus use scripture and they both quote it. Jesus quotes from Deuteronomy, Satan from Psalms. What this tells us is that it is not enough to know scripture; it must be read rightly whilst considering God’s nature, and it must be applied. God’s story is a story of deliverance and faithful obedience to God rather than our own self-reliance. If we are to fight the foe which leads us astray with temptations, we must read the Bible everyday! If we are thinking the wrong things because we do not know His...

Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful ~ Colossians 4:2 We are each a channel reaching toward God. We who believe and have received Jesus as Lord and Saviour open the doorway to the heavens through prayer. Our prayers are powerful pathways which open hearts and change lives through the power of the Holy Spirit. The Apostle Paul tells those in Colossians to devote themselves to prayer. We have that same privilege to pray and intercede for others as well as ourselves. When our prayers are in line with God’s will, he hears, and he answers. Paul says it is our duty to pray for the world and for others. It is our great privilege to come before the throne of God in prayer and lift those that need healing, or conviction, or mercy. C. S. Lewis once was asked, “Why pray if God knows all and is sovereign over all?” Lewis answered with this: “You might as well ask me why breathe, for prayer to the soul is as necessary as breathing for the body.” How true this is, for our soul ...

My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God? ~ Psalm 42:2 My soul thirsts for God! What a beautiful expression of the needs of the psalmist for his God. He is dry and parched and only the living God can satisfy his needs! We hunger in this world. We hunger for fame, for financial gain, for prestige, for love, yet in its hungering, the world continues to seek it in wrong places. The world longs for deep needs to be filled, yet enough is never enough. It baffles me why the world is so bent on turning away from God instead of toward him. But when we read the Bible we see it repeated, and they are us and our world, just in a different time and place. Those of us who know the Lord seek him, we thirst for him, we long for him because we know that he is our only satisfaction. We long to be filled by his Spirit, to sense his closeness and presence, to come into the place where we once again are rejuvenated and refreshed! The psalmist asks when he can meet wit...