Let me pass over the river and rest under the shade of the trees. 

General T.J. “Stonewall” Jackson–wounded by his own men, he died shortly after.

Have you ever been wounded by your own? I have in my five decades of being a Christian. They never killed me, but sometimes it came close (spiritually speaking).  It hasn’t stopped me, though; I’m still active.

The Apostle Paul mentions that phenomena many times in his writings.

1 Corinthians 9:1-2

Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are not you my workmanship in the Lord? If to others I am not an apostle, at least I am to you, for you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.

Galatians 1:10

For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.

Now these are believers he is writing to. Some of whom he’d even led to the Lord.

It’s not just the enemy you have to worry about. Sometimes even around Christians you have to duck. Give it some thought.

Gary

Around 125 A.D., a Greek by the name of Aristeides wrote to one of his friends, trying to explain the extraordinary success of the new religion, Christianity. In his letter he said, “If any righteous man among the Christians passes from this world, they rejoice and offer thanks to God, and they accompany his body with songs and thanksgiving as if he were setting out from one place to another nearby.”

That should be the testimony of the Church in the 21st century. Have we lost something?

Revelation 21:4 

He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

Luke 23:43 

And He said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in paradise.”

John 11:26 

And everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?”

Give it some thought.

Gary

Every generation laughs at the old fashions, but follows religiously the new.

–       Henry David Thoreau

Where do generations come from? Glad you asked, because the Bible states emphatically that each one is designed by God and not man.

“Don’t trust anyone over thirty” was a famous 1960s counterculture slogan, coined by activist Jack Weinberg during the Free Speech Movement, symbolizing distrust of the establishment. These people are now over eighty-years-old. God laughs at such foolishness.

Daniel 4:3 

How great are His signs, how mighty His wonders! His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and His dominion endures from generation to generation.

Acts 2:40 

And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.”

Here you are in just another generation created by God. Give it some thought.

Gary

Defeat is not the worst of failures. Not to have tried is the true failure. 

– B.E. Woodberry

After Adam had messed it all up for the rest of us, he had to be reprogrammed by God. You can always start over again after failure because the God we serve knows our frame.

Romans 12:19 

Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”

John 15:18 

“If the world hates you, know that it has hated Me before it hated you.

Psalm 103:14

For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust.

Are you trying? You see, He has many names in Scripture.  Here are just a few: Helper, Guide, Redeemer, Friend that sticks closer than a brother, and Deliverer.  Give it some thought.

Gary

The song stated, “Look what a mess I’ve made of my life.” I don’t know where that came from, but the principle has been repeated many times down through the ages. Case in point is found with Jacob when Pharaoh asked him about his long life’s journey.

His reply is found in the following:

Genesis 47:9

And Jacob said to Pharaoh, “The years of my pilgrimage are a hundred and thirty. My years have been few and difficult, and they do not equal the years of the pilgrimage of my fathers.”

Poor old Jacob, that certainly was the case, and the reason for it is placed solely at his feet.

What will you say when the end comes? Give it some thought.

Gary

When John Owen, the great Puritan, lay on his deathbed, his secretary wrote (in his name) to a friend, “I am still in the land of the living.”

“Stop,” said Owen. “Change that and say, I am yet in the land of the dying, but I hope soon to be in the land of the living.”  

– John M. Drescher

John sure cleared that concept up in the final moments of his life on the third rock from the Sun. We do live in the land of the dying, but can look forward to being in the land of the living.

Does the Bible address it? Glad you asked.

John 5:24 

Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.

John 17:3 

And this is eternal life, that they know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.

Get this right before you find yourself on your deathbed. Give it some consideration.

Gary

Daniel 12:13

“But go your way till the end. And you shall rest and shall stand in your allotted place at the end of the days.”

This is the last verse in the book of Daniel. Daniel was a prophet taken to Babylon as a youth, known for his wisdom, integrity, and ability to interpret dreams and visions, serving Babylonian and Persian kings while remaining faithful to God, famously surviving the lions’ den after being thrown in for praying to God. He interpreted King Nebuchadnezzar’s dreams, deciphered the “writing on the wall,” and was appointed a high official, demonstrating unwavering faith in the face of adversity.

Why such a life? The answer to that lies in the fact that God was well known and embraced by him from his youth. This was the ending of a long and successful journey.

You can have the same from here to there.  Give it some thought.

Gary