Well today was definitely a day of excitment and answered prayer. In short, a BIG blessing :D . Some of you may have met our neighbors, the Langens, who have been coming out to church the last couple weeks. Well, today God did a work in Mrs. Langens life and she accepted Christ as her Savior today. She always felt that she was a good girl, but in order to be saved, you need to find yourself lost and today was that day. God was knocking on our neighbors heart door. I'm just praying that the family will all decide to join our church now. The kids are really sweet, specially the baby :) Seriously now, you've seen good babies, well this baby tops them all, she like never cries. I asked Mrs. Langen if she ever cries and I was told that she basically never does, she squeeks or something when she's hungry :) A very cute kid.... Just keep praying for the family, it would be great if they could join our church, they are such a nice family. Thanks for listening, or actually reading, my blessing blog. Have an Awesome Week and keep looking for and asking God to work in your life through these revival messages!
Isiah 44:22 - "I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins: return unto me; for I have redeemed thee."
I don't want to harp on ya, but my fingers feel very calloused right now from the hours of playing instruments today at Macys. Last year just my sisters played, but this year my Mom decided to throw the whole group of us in. It was certainly fun because we have practiced for so many hours at home its nice to actually get out and play for other people. A lot of people took our business cards, unfortunately we couldn't pass out any tracts or sell any CD's because that was the rules they gave us, but it was really nice to see the friendly faces of people as the smiled and complimented us on how nice it was to see a family that has fun playing their instruments together.
Thou art good beyond all thought,
But I am vile, wretched, miserable, blind;
My lips are ready to confess,
but my heart is slow to feel,
and my ways reluctant to amend.
I bring my soul to thee;
break it, wound it, bend it, mould it.
Unmask to me sin’s deformity,
that I may hate it, abhor it, flee from it.
My faculties have been a weapon of revolt
against thee;
as a rebel I have misused my strength,
and served the foul adversary of thy kingdom.
Give me grace to bewail my insensate folly,
Grant me to know that the way of transgressors
is hard,that evil paths are wretched paths,
that to depart from thee is to lose all good.
I have seen the purity and beauty of thy perfect law,
the happiness of those in whose heart it reigns,
the calm dignity of the walk to which it calls,
yet I daily violate and contemn its precepts.
Thy loving Spirit strives within me,
brings me Scripture warnings,
speaks in startling providences,
allures by secret whispers,
yet I choose devices and desires to my own hurt,
impiously resent, grieve,
and provoke him to abandon me.
All these sins I mourn, lament, and for them
cry pardon.
Work in me more profound and abiding repentance;
Give me the fullness of a godly grief
that trembles and fears,
yet ever trusts and loves,
which is ever powerful, and ever confident;
Grant that through the tears of repentance
I may see more clearly the brightness
and glories of the saving cross.
Valley of Vision - A Collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotions
Tis not for man to trifle! Life is brief;
And sin is here
Our age is but the falling of a lead,
A dropping tear
We have no time to sport away the hours;
All must be earnest in a world like ours.
Not many lives, but only one, have we,
Frail, fleeting man:
How sacred should that one life ever be,
That narrow span!
Day after day filled with blessed toil,
Hour after hour still bringing in new spoil.
~ Charles Spurgeon ~
As the soldiers marched across the field they looked at the oppenents
general advancing to meet theirs. Anger burned in their heart to that
man whom they thought intended to destroy their life. To the suprise
of this army, the opposing army began to call out to them join us or
perish. The call was rejected, but as the opposing armies got closer
this army suddenly realized that their fight was futile. The call from
across the field echoed again. Join us!
Some thought this proposal rediculous and continued to march, but this
soldier who now writes this blog decided to lay down his armes and run
to the other side. You see, the other soldiers had no weapons. They
simply marched behind their leader and asked him to fight on their
behalf. I was no longer under the control of the devil. Upon laying
down my arms and coming to the other side I was relieved from having
to fight with my flesh. I decided to live in the spirit. I was not
longer in control, the devil was no longer my leader. I became free.
Free from his opressing control to fight for his wicked kingdom. I'm
free from a certain death. I have recieved life. I am no longer in his
control I am out of control :)
I just finished having a great devotions with my brother and sister
on the book of Romans 8. It is an excellent chapter (not excluding the
other chapters) and it talks about being free from the law of sin.
Just think of the wonderful freedom we have from the law of sin. Some
think, ya your out of control. The life your living is boring, and
you'll just die and that's it. Nooo!!! That is not it, I'm living
under the control of the spirit of God. The God who is all-powerful.
Our victory is sure and secure.Thr life I used to live was death,
withless, I was bound for hell. Through Christ however, by joining his
side I am protected by his loving hand. Never do I want to live and
act like the world does. I'm finished with that life. For to me to
live is Christ.
Romans 8 has been great fun to study.
BTW- I wanted to thank everyone that stopped by the other day on Sept.
11. I had far more people on that day than I ever had on any of the
other days. Also, I appreciate your comments to my posts and your
emails. They are a blessing to me :) I throughly enjoy reading them.
In case you wondering... that last blog wasn't the exciting on that I
wrote about in the previous blog, though I am very excited about that
post. I still have a message I'm working on. It's been busy :)
Bottom line - if your not saved, get out of control of the devil and
make the choice to live for God. It is true freedom!
BenH
September 11, 2001
A day which I will never forget. Tears easily came to the eyes of
nearly everyone in my school. It was not the loss of the buildings
which concerned me, but the startling realization that as I stood
there with my other classmates watching the TV screen, thousands of
people were dying right in front of me and I could do nothing. The
thought ran through my mind that many of those people were leaping
from the building into the very pit of hell and some screaming from
flames which they would be engulfed in for all eternity. The thought
was as putting a heavy weight in my heart and it tied my throat in
knots. That day brought death to many. As I walked through that school
seven years ago I was reminded how merciful God. It had only been one
year ago on that day I had trusted Christ as my Savior and was given
the verdict, guilty... But forgiven. To me September 11 is a day of
great significance to me... It is one of joy and sorrow, it is a day
of rememberence.
Everyday people could face death or life. There are people all around
you every day that someday will experience a day of life or death. As
you watch some videos of 9/11 cry to God to forgive you of living your
life when others will face death. Cry to God for a burden to reach
someone before they jump into hell. You don't know what a day could
bring forth. Remember that people all around our dying physically and
on that day they will experience life or death. Picture that World
Trade Centers.
Maybe a better question is this, what day did you experience life?
Have you been forgiven by God or you still guilty and facing the
judgment of Gods hand to slam the gavel down on your punishment.
Unless you have a mediator that has taken your place you will stand on
your own two feet and will have nothing to take hold of to save
yourself, nothing to keep off the flames of wrath, therr is nothing of
your own, there is nothing have ever done, there is nothing you can do
to induce God to spare you one moment.
Be serious, will you experience life or death?
Benjamin
Hmmm, ya I've been working on way to many videos. Anyhow, I got this
great devotional which I have been wanting to write up and I'm
starting to feel inspired to write it again. Hopefully I can buckle
down and get at short version typed up for y'all. The title is. "The
Last Walk" Hopefully it's as neat to you as it is in my head.
The way I always remember thinking even when I was young is in a movie
style, I can picture things happening and it looks and sounds great.
The hard part I have is getting those ideas out. The title of my
message I think kind of sounds like a movie title. Anyway, I wanted to
post this on my blog to give you something to wet your appetite. I've
got a lot of reading for Christilogy class so I'll see how far I get
on it.
Thanks for taking the time to read my blog everyone, even though I
don't know everyone who reads it, I know your out there (cause I can
see the stats) Waha-hahaha :)
BenH
Please read Romans 8:37-39
.......
Isn't that such a glorious thought?
Absolutely nothing can seperate from the Love of Almighty God. I was
commenting to a friend that Facebook has over 100 million active users
and how in significant we are to that many people. Well, I got good
news for you we are not insignificant in Gods eyes. Jesus Christ is
not willing that any should perish, not a one. Christ desires for all
to come to repentance. If you have never recipicated Christ love to
you then I ask you to check out John 3:16 and learn more about the
great love wherewith he hath loved us. Another verse that struck me
yesterday night was this. Jesus sticks closer than a brother. Talk
about showing love toward us... Ponder that awesome thought of the
Love of God which was shown to use while we were yet sinners and which
is still shown to us every day!!!
BenH
Its weird, Im wide awake and feel like starting a new day, however I
only got in bed an hour ago and for some reason I got up. When I got
up I remembered that I didn't read my Proverbs a day!!! I use a lot of
exclamation points because that has been one of my goals that I wanted
to make a habit of in my life and I'm getting close to having been
faithful in doing that for month which makes it exciting for me to see
the days add up on my goal chart.
I think God woke me up for this reason and whala... Or however you
spell that. I found a gem which I thought I would pass on to y'all and
share the wealth. :) In Proverbs 4:26 we are given the warning to
ponder our path. Hmm, I have the feeling that many people in the world
make decisions off the cuff without regard to future results. They
hope that everything just goes great. As a Christian with a goal for
godliness the choices I make are vital. You see the devil leads his
children on a broad road lined with entertainment to soothe their
every passion. However, my choice to walk down the narrow road does
not have those dainties. There are many reasons why I must decide not
to set my foot in the wicked path. One, I could cause a brother in
Christ to fall. Second, I would be stepping into dangerous territory
by leaving God's will. Third, I could be leading a lost person to the
fires of hell. There a lot of other reasons, but the bottom line is
that we should ponder our path because it will affect not only your
own future, but those around you as well. The temptations of the
flesh, the lust of the eyes and pride of life will swirl about you.
BUT, Ponder Your Path.
I hope this post was a blessing, Im glad God woke me up and reminded
me. That's my blessing. OK, I'm now getting tired, I hope that this
blog doesn't have too many grammer errors :)
May God Bless You as You Ponder,
BenH