My Rippling Stream

By Lydia Chorpening

 

I sat beside my rippling stream - thinking

And into its chilly waters - plinking

Little pebbles that lined the shoreline there

I looked around and saw a robin - hopping

And watched as he was often - stopping

Listening for the worms beneath the mosses green

I looked heavenward and saw white fluffy clouds - gliding

Driven by the wind in no particular shape -abiding

Released as lambs in early spring

The sun of late afternoon kept creeping - peeking

As out from behind the clouds - sneaking

Into its bed where it would spend my night

I thought beyond the clouds and sunshine - praying

That I might be always in God's presence - staying

Though I could not always sit beside my rippling stream

Psalm 16:11 “”You will show me the path of life: in your presence is

fullness of joy: at your right hand there are pleasures for evermore.”

Early American Revivals

Before mounting into his pulpit Jonathan Edwards had knelt to pray.  Should he preach what the people wanted or should he tell the truth?

Concern pressed in upon him.  Gone was that God fearing generation that have settled the land, but that day in 1734 marked the birth of what in many respects was the most notable revival of religion in America that has ever experienced.

There was a remnant of godly left.  They soon realized that the halfway covenant was a terrible mistake.  Something was desperately needed to keep the flickering flame of vital Christianity from wholly being snuffed out.

As God of often does, he chose a man to unlatched the windows of darkened churches to let the light in.  This man was Jonathan Edwards.  He had a religious bent early in life.  He struggled to know that true plan of salvation.Finally he came upon the passage in Timothy; “now unto the king eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honor and Glory for ever and ever. Amen.”  That one sentence gave Edwards a new sense of things.  A sense of God's Glory filled him.

George Whitefield fanned the fire of God. He came from a England.  And spoke with quiet  intensity.  He painted pictures with his words.  He built truth upon truth.  In his most famous sermon entitled, “sinners in the hands of an angry God,” he compared the sinner to a spider suspended over the flames of hell.  He said, you hang by a slender thread, with flames of divine wrath flashing about it, and ready every moment to singe and burn it asunder.

Whitefield preached in meeting houses, in barns, in fields, from wagons.  Everywhere it was the same.  People were convicted of their sin and driven to the foot of the cross.  There was never an invitation given.  Whitefield merely preached and waited for the Spirit to move.  People wept, some from remorse others with joy.

Prayer, fasting and boldness brought on great revivals in the 1700s.  If that could happen then it can happen again.  Who was willing to pay the price?  Who was willing to move away from status quo?  I leave you with those two questions

To Love Unashamedly

To me the summer seemed long and extremely hot. The year was in the mid 1950’s and I spent my long days tucked into the lonely countryside in Missouri. My parents and older brothers did custom hay baling in the surrounding areas and I, during my adolescent years was left at home to care for my infant and toddling siblings, plus take care of chores, gardening and canning.

The days seemed unbearable as fear and heat mixed together to make me think about ‘hell’. I was taught that hell was real and to me it was more real than heaven. There were five things I believed in. Those were, God, the devil, heaven, hell and eternity. There was something (and I know now that that something was Someone) missing in my equation. Looking back now I am so ashamed to say that it was Jesus and my love for Him.

Years later after I had made my confession of faith, went through excommunication, and received the infilling of the Holy Spirit, I still remember a time when I found it difficult to say, “I love You, Jesus.”

God has been so patient with me. I wish that I could say there was an ‘ah-ha moment’ early in my life where I could remember just realizing that Jesus paid it all so that I could fall in love with Him. It must be that I grew in that love, for my heart is touched, it is tender before Him when I think of how much He loved me.

Jesus was not ashamed to stripped bare for my shame and disgrace. He humbled Himself to take the stripes on His back because of my very sins. He made Himself sinful that I might be guiltless. He went to hell that I might inherit an eternity in Heaven with Him, sitting with Him in that fathomless beauty.

Somewhere in the 98 years of my mother’s life she had grown deeply in love with Jesus. The first person she wanted to see in Heaven was “the LORD” as she called Him. She sang of Him until breath would not allow her to sing any longer. When she stepped into His presence I am sure she was still singing. What a gift of dedicated, unashamed love she left to all of us! What a heart-after-God she exemplified! How deep her insight was of the love of Jesus for her and all of us!

One example of her unashamed love was that on her death-bed and in her dying days, she grabbed every doctor’s hand and every nurse’s hand that she could reach and lifted it to her lips, planting a firm kiss on that hand and then boldly said, “God bless you!”

And I now am here, left after her to carry on that ‘unashamed-love-legacy!’ What a privilege! What a responsibility! What an honor! Lord, make my love for You, bold, honorable, unrelenting, and responsible!

The Resurrected Life

The resurrected life is first the

   Buried-with-Christ life

If we have been risen with Christ

   Then first we have to die with Him.

The resurrected life is the

   dying-to-the-flesh life.

For we dare not make ourselves

of those who compare themselves by themselves

or of those who measure themselves among themselves.

The resurrected life doesn’t ask,”what will others think?”

   It’s the set-apart life

It is the circumcised – that is the

   cutting-away-of-the-flesh life

It is the circumspect life.

   the diligent life

   the exact life

   the careful life’'

   the accurate life

   the focused life

The resurrected life will never be experienced until

   we experience the death of fleshly desires

The resurrected life is the living-in-victory life

   It is the triumphing-over-sin life

The resurrected life is the

   justified-by-faith life

It no longer depends on its own good works

The resurrected life is the

   loving-God-enough-to-die-for-Him life

The resurrected life is

  the knowing-God life

It is experiencing the intimacy-of-His-love life

It is living a more-than-a-conqueror life

The Resurrected life is

    the focused life

   the unselfish life

   the overcoming life

The Resurrected life is

   OUR ETERNAL LIFE!

What Make You You?

In the beginning we were created in the image of God.

How long did the devil badger Eve before she gave in and ate the fruit that God had forbidden them?

We really don’t know, and we don’t know how long she may have been trying to persuade Adam to eat before he ate, but at any rate…sin came into the world and is passed down to all of us.

So we are made up of spiritual needs, Thankfully God sent us a Savior in Jesus Christ who came to earth to take our sinful place in Hell, but then rise again. Thus our spiritual needs was covered.

Our spiritual need is our primary need. However, we also need health and financial freedom. For too long we have bought into the concepts taken from the garbage heap of pharmaceutical concepts. All these medications produce side affects and we try to cover them with more medications. It is a vicious cycle, so why not get off the medication merry-go-round?

John wants us to prosper and also to be in health (see III John 2).

We can help folks with obtain optimal health and build a residual income.

We are excited to see who the next person is who wants to see reality by getting results!

Christ’s Love My Release

 

The blood that stained that rugged cross

Has to washed my sins away

Redemptions price for all my sins

Was more than I could pay

Christ did not have to die for me

Yet love compelled him there

He could have called an angel band

God would have heard his prayer

But love – the love I cannot comprehend

Led Jesus to His death

There He died on Calvary

That I might have eternal rest

His body cold lay in the tomb

Where only dead men lay

When morning came on that third dawn

The angel rolled the stone away

Christ was no longer in the tomb

God had raised Him from the dead

The place He lay is empty now

He’s risen as He said

and I, through faith, have now obtained

The blessings bought by blood

I now am cleansed from all my sins

By Calvary’s crimson flood

I seek no more another love

For Christ gave all for me

I dedicate myself afresh – anew

To walk in His liberty

How Rich We Are

Having been raised in poverty and inherited a poverty mentality, I had many things to unlearn. During the years that my parents were excommunicated from their strict Amish denomination and until we moved north to Iowa where they belonged to a more liberal branch of Amish, we did a lot of ‘church-hopping.’

One of the groups that my folks attended pounded their Bibles to stress the imperative demands of giving. I remember one of the Scriptures that was often used was found in II Corinthians 9:6 “But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly, and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.”

I had a hard time wrapping my young mind around that. I felt that I had nothing to give. I looked at my tattered dress with the hem hanging down. I often had to be careful not to trip on the hem. It was not unusual for my feet to be forced into a ‘much-too-small-for-me’ shoe, or to wear one with the sole flapping and loose. I never owned a penny and felt that I honestly had nothing I could give.

How could I sow bountifully when I really owned nothing in this world’s goods? I felt that God was being unfair and that I would never get ahead of things.

I heard Joyce Meyer say that each one us has everything that matters to God. Our possessions begin with our faith. Romans 12:3 tells us that God has given to each of us a measure of faith. Faith in God’s redemptive work – through Christ – is what generates our redemption. Without faith it is impossible to please God.

When we have faith we will find that we are truly rich. We have something to give away. We can pray for those in need. We can speak a word of testimony.

Sowing bountifully or sparingly has to do with our attitude and not our possessions. To sow sparingly is to give with a stingy attitude. To sow bountifully is to give with a generous attitude.

Let’s give something away today! A smile! A hug! A word of encouragement! A note in the mail  or perhaps a phone call! We are so rich! We have so much to give! You will be blessed in your giving..