Learning to Trust the Father's Love

When my brother Dave was very small, we spent a week at the seaside in Belmar, New Jersey.  In vain my father tried to persuade the little boy to come into the waves with him and jump, promising to hold him safely and not allow the waves to sweep over his head.  He took me (only a year older) into the ocean and showed Dave how much fun it would be.  Nothing doing.  The ocean was terrifying.  Dave was sure it would mean certain disaster, and he could not trust his father.  On the last day of our vacation he gave in.  He was not swept away, his father held him as promised, and he had far more fun than he could have imagined, whereupon he burst into tears and wailed, "Why didn't you make me go in?"
An early lesson in prayer often comes through an ordeal of fear.  We face impending adversity and we doubt the love, wisdom and power of our Father in heaven.
When the people of Israel were encamped in Pi-hahiroth and saw the Egyptians coming after them, they felt they were looking death in the face and it was all Moses' fault - "as if there weren't enough graves in Egypt that you brought us out here to die!"
"Don't be afaid," said Moses.  "Stand by.  The Lord will fight for you if you'll just be quiet."
You know the story of deliverance.  The song of victory Moses and Israel sang reveals their recognition not only of the strength, majesty and wonder-working of the Lord, but of His loving-kindness, immeasurably  beyond anything they had dared to hope.
Poor Dave!  His father could have forced him to come into the water, but he could not have forced him to relax and enjoy it.  As long as the child insisted on protecting himself, saving the life he was sure he would lose, he could not trust the strong love of his father.  He refused to surrender.  In this simple story we hear echoes of the most ancient story, of the two who, distrusting the word of their Father, fearing that obedience to Him would ultimately bar them from happiness, chose to repudiate their dependence on Him.  Sin, death, destruction for the whole race were the result.
Learning to pray is learning to trust the wisdom, the power, and the love of our Heavenly Father, always so far beyond our dreams.  He knows our need and knows ways to meet it that have never entered our heads.  Things we feel sure we need for happiness may often lead to our ruin.  Things we think will ruin us (the chariots of Egypt, the waters of the sea, or the little waves in Belmar!), if we believe what the Father tells us and surrender ourselves into His strong arms, bring us deliverance and joy.
The only escape from self-love is self-surrender.  "Whoever loses his life for Me will find it" (Matthew 16:25, NIV).  "Dwell in my love.  If you heed my commands, you will dwell in my love, as I have heeded my Father's commands and dwell in His love.  I have spoken thus to you, so that my joy may be in you, and your joy complete" (John 15:9-11, NEB).  My father knew far better than his small, fearful, stubborn son what would give him joy.  So does our Heavenly Father.  Whenever I have resisted Him, I have cheated myself, as my little brother did.  Whenever I have yielded, I have found joy.
- taken from Elisabeth Elliot's book, Keep a Quiet Heart
~Brittany

Look back, believer: think of your doubting God

when He has been so faithful to you -

think of your foolish outcry of "Not so, my Father,"

when He crossed His hands in affliction to give you the larger blessing;

think of the many times when you have read His providences in the dark,

misinterpreted His dispensations, and groaned out,

"All these things are against me,"

when they are all working together for your good!

Think how often you have chosen sin because of its pleasure,

when indeed, that pleasure was a root of bitterness to you!

Surely if we know our own heart we must plead guilty

to the indictment of a sinful folly;

and conscious of this "folishness,"

we must make David's consequent resolve our own -

"Thou shalt guide me with Thy counsel."

-- Charles Spurgeon --

"Man has a claim on God,

a divine claim for any pain, want, disappointment, or misery

that will help to make him what he ought to be.

 He has a claim to be punished,

and to be spared not one pang that may urge him toward repentance;

yea, he has a claim to be compelled to repent;

to be hedged in on every side,

to have one after another of the strong, sharp-toothed sheep-dogs

of the Great Shepherd sent after him,

to thwart him in any desire,

foil him in any plan,

frustrate him of any hope,

until he comes to see at length that nothing will ease his pain,

nothing make life a thing worth having,

but the presence of the living God within him;

that nothing is good but the will of God;

nothing noble enough for the desire of the heart of man

but oneness with the eternal.

For this God must make him yield his very being,

that He himself may enter in and dwell with him."

-- George MacDonald --

Is Your All on the Altar?

When I woke up this morning and was thinking on a difficult situation, this old favorite hymn came to mind.  It’s been a while since we’ve sung it, and I was amazed as I read the words.  I guess the Lord wanted me to hear this message this morning.  It is my hope that this song will minister to some of you as well.  May the Lord bless, and guide, and strengthen you, and may He help us each to lay all things on the altar so that He can fulfill His perfect will in our lives.  I know someday we will see the bigger picture.

~Brittany

Is Your All on the Altar?

You have longed for sweet peace,

And for faith to increase,

And have earnestly, fervently prayed;

But you cannot have rest

Or be perfectly blest

Until all on the altar is laid.

Would you walk with the Lord,

In the light of His Word,

And have peace and contentment always,

You must do His sweet will,

To be free from all ill,

On the altar your all you must lay.

Oh, we never can know what the Lord will bestow

Of the blessings for which we have prayed,

Till our body and soul He doth fully control,

And our all on the altar is laid.

Who can tell all the love

He will send from above,

And how happy our hearts will be made,

Of the fellowship sweet

We shall share at His feet,

When our all on the altar is laid.

Is your all on the altar of sacrifice laid?

Your heart, does the Spirit control?

You can only be blessed

And have peace and sweet rest,

As you yield Him your body and soul.