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"The Covenant of Peace"
“And I will make them and the places round about my hill a blessing; and I will cause the shower to come down in his season: there shall be showers of blessing.” Ezekiel 34:26
God is anxious to make our homes happy and our places to produce plenty. No father brings forth children to make them suffer. God promises that He will give His children peace and blessing.“And I will make with them a covenant of peace, and will cause the evil beasts to cease out of the land: and they shall dwell safely in the wilderness, and sleep in the woods.” (Ezek. 34:25) He wants to make a covenant with you. “And the tree of the field shall yield her fruit, and the earth shall yield her increase, and they shall be safe in their land, and shall know that I am the LORD, when I have broken the bands of their yoke, and delivered them out of the land of those that served themselves of them.”(Ezek. 34:27)
We always think we are oppressed by man. But God says nature also oppresses man. The sin of man has affected the nature around him. Nature which should be subject to man has become his master. There is a fear of failure of rain. Ahab had that fear but not Elijah. When a man obeys the commandments of God, nature obeys him.
“For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.” (Rom.8:22) Why? Man’s sin affects nature. It affects him also. It affects his family. It affects the society around him. When a country becomes adulterous and murderous and justice is not meted out in it, there is confusion of seasons. Rain fails to come in due season and when rain is not needed, floods come to destroy harvests, and natural calamities ravage the land.
Men, who gain money unjustly, bring up families in which there will be many deaths. One student of mine once wanted me to let him occupy for a short time one of the two houses we had rented. Soon we were unjustly evicted from the house we were occupying. We were forced to live in tents during heavy rains but he would not give us back our house. He had no conscience at all. In a short time he died as a young man.
There are hidden forces in nature to oppress those that do not obey God. If you obey God, there will be plenty in the land. If you repent and fast and weep and put away sin from you, God will restore to you the years that the cankerworm and palmerworm have eaten. God wants to make a covenant with you. When you sin, you get out of the covenant and come under the power of darkness. The kingdom of darkness is waiting. When you commit sin, you give room to evil spirits to take hold of you and destroy you.
Nature is groaning because of sin. Our offices are full of sin—lies, and greed. The poor are oppressed. So much injustice is done.The most unrighteous man thinks that he can prosper.
God says that His people will never be ashamed. “And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God. I will also save you from all your uncleannesses: and I will call for the corn, and will increase it, and lay no famine upon you. And I will multiply the fruit of the tree, and the increase of the field, that ye shall receive no more reproach of famine among the heathen.” (Ezekiel 36: 28-30) God is anxious to build ruined homes and nations.
Give the gospel to the sick and to the poor. Some of you just want to be comfortable. You do not want to move your little finger for the spread of the gospel. Nature is groaning under human sin. God wants to release the human heart and release nature and make man Lord over nature.
- N. Daniel
"Just As I Am!"
It must be true to say that no sacred song or hymn has been more used to bring sinners to the feet of Jesus, than this one.
Sung by grand choirs in vast crusades as hundreds have come or by congregations, large and small, as one’s and two’s have come; this hymn has moved the hearts of multitudes.
Just As I Am, rings with a clear, positive note. It invites the sinner, just as he is, with all his sin, in all his unworthiness, despite his fears, though poor, wretched and blind, to come to the Saviour.
This is an invitation which is absolutely scriptural! We don’t need to wait until our lives have been straightened out before we come to Christ. There’s nothing we can do which will ever make us more acceptable in God’s sight. The Bible clearly teaches that God loves the sinner, just the way he is, and wants him to come like that.
Only Jesus Christ can deliver us from the guilt and penalty of sin. Only He can solve all the problems of life. Only He can give us peace and joy and hope for the future.
It was out of her feelings of frustration and hopelessness that the daughter of an Anglican minister in Brighton, England, wrote the words of this fine hymn.
One day in 1833, when Charlotte Elliott was in her forty-fourth year, she was feeling unusually depressed and alone. The other members of her family had gone off to a church function while she, an invalid and bedridden, remained at home.
Before her illness she had lived a happy, carefree life enjoying its many pleasures and gaining a measure of popularity, as a portrait artist.
Now, all of this past and stricken with the sickness which was to plague her for the rest of her life, she felt utterly useless and cut off. In addition, although she had been a Christian for many years, she began to have doubts about her relationship with the Lord. How could she be sure that all was well with her soul?
In her distress she began to list scriptural reasons for believing that she was, indeed, a child of God. She recognized the power of the Saviour’s precious blood. She remembered His promise to receive all who come to Him by faith; and His ability to pardon, cleanse and save.
As she meditated on these great truths her heart was warmed and very soon Charlotte Elliott, who was also fond of writing poetry, was putting down her thoughts in verse:
Just as I am, without one plea,
But that Thy blood was shed for me,
And that Thou bidst me come to Thee,
O Lamb of God, I come, I come.
The poem was instantly successful and was soon selling all over in large numbers as well as being translated into a number of foreign languages.
Charlotte Elliott never did enjoy good heath for the rest of her life. She remained bedridden until the Lord, at last, called her Home when she was eighty-two years old.
However, before her death she received more than a thousand letters of thanks and compliments from people who were grateful that she had written Just As I Am.
Just as I am, Thou wilt receive,
Wilt welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve;
Because Thy promise I believe,
O Lamb of God, I come, I come.
- Selected
"Reality Check"
"A false balance is abomination to the Lord; but a just weight is his delight." Proverbs 11:1
"Thine is the Kingdom"
“For Thine is the kingdom and the power and glory forever.” Matthew 6:13
Thine is the glory! We should be very careful to see that we never touch the glory of God. Sometimes I have noticed that when some special duties or responsibilities are given to some people, they soon feel, that is their kingdom and that is their turf. No, yours is not the kingdom! Mine is not the kingdom. The kingdom is the Lord’s. That natural craving for glory in our hearts must cease and we must see a complete victory over that.
Look at the Maker of heaven and earth, the Lord Jesus, on the cross, with those wayfaring people shaking their heads at him, and others and the soldiers taunting him, “If you are the Son of God, come down.” Did He seek His own glory? No. He made himself of no reputation. We must walk in His footsteps.
All of us have an inner craving for some reputation and that has to be renounced at the cross. As for me, I enjoy anonymity. I like to sit in a corner when nobody recognizes me. Then I can read my Bible, or attend to my work undisturbed.
Unfortunately, our anonymous days seem to be getting over, as more and more people are getting to know me through our TV broadcasts. After the Guwahati meetings, I was really surprised when a police inspector, who evidently is watching our TV programmes, recognized me at the airport and helped me when the security people stopped me to search my briefcase thoroughly.
Thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory! Now your children will see the manner of your living and working whether you really live at this level. They will know whether you are really building God’s kingdom or your own kingdom.
My father never set before me any worldly goal. He just told me, “Do the will of God!” So when he saw that I was not a brilliant student, he was not disappointed. When he saw that I was heading nowhere, he was not discouraged. He never said to me, “You are no good; you don’t seem to have half the mathematics brain which I have. You must do this, you must pass that.” No, he never talked like that to me. He taught me to do the will of God. What a heritage my father gave me! That is all I sought in my life.
I have not sought big things for myself. I have not sought comfort or money. I sought just the will of God. And when some people think that I am a great planner and I can see things afar off, I say, “No, I am a foolish fellow.” I constantly go to God and wait on Him for His thoughts and that is how I operate.
What are you teaching your children? I feel very disappointed with some parents today who apparently teach their children only worldly values. It breaks my heart to see that even those parents who once lived a life of sacrifice for God are now very happy with the worldly prosperity of their children. They don’t seem to grieve over their children’s spiritual poverty. This kind of attitude will only take us down the road to self-destruction. Such people must repent and leave their worldly ways.
It should not be our purpose or ambition on earth to be just worldly achievers. We should not focus on big jobs and big salaries. Our children should not be running after money. They must say, “I am going to do God’s will.” I praise God that there are still people like that. We must see a missionary spirit in our young men and women. Our children must rise up to build God’s kingdom.
Oh my dear people, don’t limit yourself to small things. Are you putting before your children spiritual values? Many times when it comes to making a serious choice, people only look for their comfort and convenience and material elevation. How sad! But Jesus taught us to seek first His kingdom.
People think all power is in money. They think that it is money which does all things. We must teach our children to have faith and trust in the Living God. When I see parents who have brainwashed their children into thinking that money is power, I find it hard to lift such people out of that mindset. They think that they can do great things for God with money. I invariably find to this day that when money goes up, faith comes down. When money goes up, love comes down. Why? It is a false trust. Power belongs to God. Thine is the power. Write it on your hearts.
We have been taught that faith is the victory. So I am always taking care that I see things with faith, do things with faith and speak words of faith. I am afraid sometimes when any son or daughter of mine speak one word of unfaith. Why? It is an offence to God. Thine is the power! The world cannot give you that power.
My dear friends, Jesus was given that option when devil tempted him. But in his humanity like you and me, He was tempted at all points, but He did not yield to the devil.
We must have strong faith in the Lord and we must not swerve from His right ways. Let us not lead our children astray. As the competitive world around us is trying too hard to suck them up into the cycle of competition, oh please, let us not indoctrinate our children with the values of the world!
Today the world has become very strong and alluring. But let our confidence be in the Living God alone. Examine your faith. May the Lord help us!
- Joshua Daniel
“If it Pleases God, it Pleases Me!” - C.H. Spurgeon
“Then they will seek My face: in their affliction they will earnestly seek Me.”-Hosea 5:15
We should accept chastisement cheerfully. It is a hard lesson, but a lesson that the Comforter is able to teach us- to be glad that God should have His way.
Do you know what it is sometimes to be very pleased to do what you do not like to do? I mean you would not have liked to do it, but you find that it pleases someone you love, and straightaway the irksome task becomes a pleasure.
Have you not felt sometimes, when one whom you very much esteem is sick and ill, that you would be glad enough to bear the pain, at least for a day or two, that you might give the suffering one a little rest? Would you not find a pleasure in being an invalid for a while to let your beloved one enjoy a season of health?
Let the same motive, in a higher degree, sway your spirit! Try to feel, “If it pleases God, it pleases me. If, Lord, it is Your will, it shall be my will. Let the lashes of the scourge be multiplied, if then You will be the more honoured and I shall be permitted to bring you some degree of glory.”
The cross becomes sweet when our health is so sweetened by the Spirit that our will runs parallel with the will of God. We should learn to say, in the language of Elihu, “I have borne, I do bear, I accept it all.”
Corrie ten Boom
Corrie ten Boom was born in Holland in 1892, the youngest child in a loving Christian family whose hearts, hands, and home were always open to anyone in need. As she grew older, it was only natural that Corrie also reached out to those around her. In addition to working in her father’s watch repair shop, she started Christian clubs for girls, worked with the mentally retarded, helped care for foster children, and taught Bible lessons in the schools.
After invaded in World War Two, helping the people who needed her aid became very dangerous. Germany’s cruel dictator, Adolph Hitler, sent soldiers to to round up all the Jewish people and take them to prison camps, where they were later killed by the millions. Anyone found helping the Jews could suffer the same fate.
But Corrie and her family could not turn their backs on people in need. They became part of the Dutch “underground” movement, which hid Jews and helped them escape to safer places.
The ten Booms built a secret room in their home with a hidden panel to open it. They put in an alarm system so that they could quickly buzz a warning throughout the house. They also had the Jews, who stayed with them, practice disappearing quickly into the secret room.
Corrie and her team of eighty workers helped hundreds of Jews escape before a fellow Dutchman turned them in to the Germans. On February 28, 1944, German soldiers stormed into the ten Boom home. One of them asked Corrie where they were hiding the Jews. When she didn’t answer, he slapped her again and again. She and her family were arrested and taken to different prison camps. Her father, was quite old and died ten days later.
After three months, Corrie was moved to Ravensbruck, a well-known death camp for women. There she was reunited with her sister, Betsie. Ravensbruck was their worst nightmare come true: long hours of very hard work, crowded, rat-filled, unheated buildings; little food; and cruel guards. Before the war ended, 96,000 women died there.
A guard once hit Corrie in the neck with a whip when she was too sick to push a heavy cart. But the hardest thing for her was seeing Betsie mistreated. Betsie had never been healthy. In prison she became much worse. Still, she was forced to keep working and to stand at attention for hours at a time, in bitterly cold weather.
Their strong faith in God helped them get through each terrible day. They lovingly reached out to the other women, encouraged them to trust God, and prayed together. Even in that awful place, they felt God’s love. In fact, Betsie told Corrie that they would travel all over after they got out, telling people that no place on earth is so dark that God’s love cannot shine into it. She also hoped to start homes in and where people broken by the war could heal.
Betsie never saw her dreams come true. She died in prison. But Corrie went on to carry out her sister’s wishes. Corrie was set free because of a typing error- which she said was a miracle- shortly before the other women of her age were killed.
After the war, she went to Germany.She spoke to large groups there, telling them about the hope God had given her and how Jesus can help us forgive our enemies and even love them.
One day after speaking, she stood at the door shaking hands with people. A man walked up to her and told her he had become a Christian after the war. Corrie recognized the man. He had been one of the cruelest guards at Ravensbruck. The man said he knew God had forgiven him for everything he had done in the past, but he wanted her forgiveness, too.
As he held out his hand, Corrie remembered the misery he had caused Betsie and thousands of others. She wrestled with her answer. She didn’t think she could forgive him, but she knew God wanted her to. Silently she prayed, “Lord, I can take his hand, but I can’t change my feelings. Only You can do that.”
She took his hand in hers, and a sudden feeling of warmth went through her arm and then her whole body, melting the bitter memories. With tears in her eyes, she told the man who had once tormented her, “I forgive you with all my heart.”
Dear reader, what is the worst thing anyone ever did to you? Have you forgiven that person? What is the worst thing you’ve ever done to someone else? Have you asked that person to forgive you?
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About Us
This newsletter is produced six times per year by the Laymen’s Evangelical Fellowship International. It is printed and distributed in the US, UK, Germany, Singapore, Canada, and Australia and is supported by unsolicited sacrificial gifts of young people. For a free subscription or for other enquiries, please contact any of the addresses below.
This Fellowship is an inter-denominational missionary and prayer group working for revival in churches and amongst students in several countries. We invite every layperson to become God’s ally in changing his or her corner of the world. We train people in evangelistic work and to be self-supporting missionaries.
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