Hold Fast to What You Know...

"Throughout every difficult challenge David faced (and there would be many), David kept his eyes on the Lord. He knew that if God had spoken, absolutely no one could ultimately thwart him from receiving what God had promised. Significantly, immediately after the Scripture relates David’s low point in Gath, it describes how mighty men from all across the land began to be attracted to join him (1 Samuel 22:1-5). 

If David was to lead mighty men, he had to retain his confidence in the Lord! He could not lose hope. He had to stay focused on his mission, regardless of the setbacks and obstacles. Ultimately he became his nation’s mightiest king, just as God had promised. 

What challenges are you currently facing? Have they caused you to lose hope, or confidence? Are you being tempted to give up? Now is when your true mettle will be determined. HOLD FAST to what you know to be true and stay close to God. He’ll do the rest." - Richard Blackaby, The Inspired Leader

Do you feel like David today?  "My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the LORD; my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God." - Psalm 84:2   Well, HOLD FAST and stay close to God. He'll do the rest ... IN HIS TIME!

~ PJVS

Faithfully Persevering...

"God especially calls ministers to suffer for the good of others. When Christ took Paul captive to serve Him, He said, “He is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel: for I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name’s sake” (Acts 9:15–16). Paul and Timothy profess that if “we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation” (2 Cor. 1:6). A minister is never more effective for Christ than when he faithfully perseveres in the midst of great personal brokenness. For in this brokenness, as Sibbes said, you offer people a moving example, stir their minds to ask what keeps you faithful, provide public confirmation of the worthiness of Christ’s cause, and demonstrate the power of the Holy Spirit in you. In short, you encourage all who have the same Spirit." ~  Encouragement For Today's Pastors, by Joel R. Beeke & Terry Slachter

Through whatever valleys you may be passing, may you be a confirmation of the worthiness of Christ's cause and demonstrate the power of the Holy Spirit for the good of your family and flock. May our Lord richly bless you to that end as you persevere!

~ PJVS 

Beneath the Cross ...

David F. Wells insightfully wrote the following in his book Losing Our Virtue...

“It was the contention of the Protestant Reformers that Christian faith will always be misunderstood if the Cross is misunderstood. Or, to put the matter positively, those who understand the Cross aright, grasp the meaning of Christ aright and can then see the entire purpose of revelation clearly. For Christ and his Cross stand at the center of God's disclosure of his moral will and saving ways in Scripture. Indeed, without the Cross we are without the magnifying glass through which his love and holiness are most keenly seen. To stand beneath the Cross is to stand at the one place where the character of God burns brightest and where his resolution of the problem of sin is sounded for all time.” 

“For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.” ~ Ephesians 2:14–16

My Pastor friend, may you keep it simple, but powerful, as you "stand beneath the Cross". Only there will we see the death of "hostility".

~ PJVS