AMAZING GRACE©
Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love.
Jeremiah 31:3 (KJV).
There is no measurement stick for God’s grace. He loves you perfectly, powerfully and eternally. Whatever sin you have done in the past has already been forgiven. His grace is greater than all your sins. “I WILL REMEMBER YOUR SIN NO MORE.”
No matter how bad you hate what people do, how they act toward you and toward others even their sins have already been covered by the cross.
No matter how wrong you think a person is in this life; how ugly they behave as an adult they still are forgiven. If there is any power in the cross of Cavalry, if there is any reality to Jesus Christ and His saving grace then you are forgiven by the shedding of His precious blood on that hill outside Jerusalem.
You may have a family member, friend or enemy that you feel is the worst person at times and have absolutely no hope whatsoever, but God’s grace is still sufficient and can change the meanest, sorriest and most violent of criminals. They have been forgiven at Calvary.
His grace is the grace I write about or it is nothing—a fake, a sheer lie.
I once read about an old Indian chief who had come to know God personally through Christ the Lord. Someone asked him, “Just how would you explain your salvation experience?” He said that it was by God’s grace that he had been redeemed. Then he picked up a small worm and laid it on a big leaf. He immediately struck a match and started the leaf ablaze. As the fire started consuming this big leaf the old Indian chief reached down just in time to save this defenseless little worm and placed it safely in the palm of his hand. In the best English he could muster he got his message across best by the salvation of this worm.
Whatever mistakes you have made in your past, whatever stupid stunts you have pulled; whatever relations you have destroyed and whatever crimes you have committed God’s grace has wiped them off the map. He can’t see your wrongs anymore. They have been totally and completely blotted out through all eternity. His grace is that sufficient, efficient and marvelous. Every thought of failure and disgust with yourself over your past “boo boos” God has long since forgiven and forgotten. Only you are reminding yourself of what you should not have done—not God. You are shouldering this baggage that God has already buried at Calvary. Remember, He loves you with an everlasting love; and the only kind love that is, is grace love.
He has not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward those who fear Him. As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.
Psalm 103:10-12 (RKJV).
When you come to this epiphany of God’s great grace you suddenly realize that you do not have to go out of your way to try to correct the mistakes of others.
“You come to the reality that no matter how mean or unreasonable that family member or foe has been toward you, you can still love them just as God does—through His eyes of grace. Whatever you say or do won’t change them any way,” says my long time friend, The Prophet.
Grace is the epitome of God’s face. It is Him. It is the very essence of Christ. It is His nature and character. “He is not willing that any person should perish, but that all should come to repentance {know His saving, loving grace} 1 Peter 9:3b (RKJV).
John Newton who at one time commanded a slave ship for six years and lived a very godless and wicked sailor’s life of infidelity came to understand God’s amazing grace. Aboard his ship he penned those infamous lines:
Amazing grace! How sweet the sound,
That saved a worm like me!
I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.
When we’ve been there ten thousand years,
Bright shining as the sun,
We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise
Than when we first begun.
For a number of years Nancy Jean and I have made the statement at times to each other, “Let is go Dave.” This expression came to me from a friend who expressing the importance of not holding grudges and past failures in his life. He related how one day a friend of his said to him, “Let it go Dave.” That is God. That is His amazing grace. Why? Because when it comes to you and me and all the goofs and blunders we’ve made in life, God is able say through His wonderful, compassionate and forgiving grace, “Let is go Dave.” And He has. How about you?
Down the road ...
Ronnie Johnson
The Resting Place©
They have gone from mountain to hill; they have forgotten their resting place.
Jeremiah 50:6b (KJV).
Thou hast created us for thyself, and our heart cannot be quieted till it may find repose in thee.
—-Augustine
The people of God have found no peace of mind. The ancient prophet is reminding God’s people where the real rest is found. He is always revealing to us just how uncomfortable life is away from the Resting Place. In the mountains and hills people get lost, confused, and in some cases “eaten up!”
In the Resting Place your spirit is rekindled, your soul is renewed, and your mind is refreshed. The Master often retreated in His earthly ministry. He did no miracles. He changed no lives. He saved no souls. He healed no sick bodies. It was His time with His Father. His Father was the Supernatural Source of rest—His Resting Place. He still is.
Your life will always be thwarted by the frantic, frustrating, vicious fast pace without God—the Resting Place. The Psalmist knew unquestionably who was his Resting Place. Remember he exclaimed once, “Oh that I had wings like a dove! For then would I fly away and be at rest,” Psalm 55:6 (KJV).We all want to fly away at times and evade reality and all of the exigencies and vicissitudes of this life. But our Resting Place is simply away from the mountains and hills of despair and dismay into the Resting Place with the Lord our King, Creator and Comforter.
Your time with God is of the greatest importance and essence for life and assurance. In the Resting Place is grace. It is that supernatural sphere that is tapped by faith and prayer. As my dear friend that prophet has reminded over the years, “People who are looking for God and want to know Him and rest upon His power and love, must ask themselves, ‘Why did God not hear me or answer my prayer? Why do my prayers never seem to reach the ceiling? God seems so far away from me. ’”And I always ask myself, “Who moved? You? Or, God?”
The space away from the Resting Place is from mountain to hill. You stay out of breath when you are away from God. You’re in a rugged terrain. There is no place to lay your head, no place of comfort or consolation. Ever feel like you’re in the wilderness? No one cares about you? No one is beside you in the roller-coaster of life? You find yourself discombobulated, feeling fragmented, tormented and unsettled. God and God alone provides the perfect Resting Place. The Christ did not go out and spend all night in the mountain to entertain more fears and miseries. He knew this was where He could and would find the Resting Place—time with His Father in prayer.
The painting entitled, “Peace” is a touching scene depicting the violent waves crashing against the jagged crags and rocks. It portrays this awful storm and the crushing blow of winds that is anything but restful or peaceful. However, in a small corner of the painting is a little bird tucked away in the those rocks resting in her nest totally oblivious to the raging storm that is all about her. What a picture of peace! This reminds us of the Master asleep in the bottom of the boat while a wicked storm was upon the sea. Remember? “Peace. Be still!” That’s what He still offers you today.
There is no peace, says my God, to the wicked.
Isaiah 57:21 (RKJV)
If you are racing in your own spirit, restless, anxious, like a raging storm with violent winds within you, then go to the Resting Place. He is waiting for you and you can be confident, He has not moved. He is still present; willing and able to help you, comfort you and mend your broken heart. Get out those dark, ugly, remote mountains and hills you’re in. Run to Him. Find consolation. Strength. Renewal. Peace.
Jeremiah’s word to God’s people was that they no longer had to be like lost, wandering sheep. He wanted them to know that they could go and discover hope in God. He wanted them to be restored in the Resting Place (In the palm of the Almighty’s hand).
You are just a prayer away from the Resting Place. Hide your soul in Him. Stop. And pray. Be restored today….in The Resting Place.
Down the road ...
Ronnie Johnson
An Enchanting Christmas Surprise©
Christmas is when God came down the stairs of heaven with a baby in His arms.
——-R. Eugene Sterner
My wife and I were young. We had no children at the time. We had placed on top of our list a stereo from her parents this particular Christmas.
We had traveled in from the church where I was pastoring at the time and spent the weekend with our families who lived in Southeast Texas. For whatever reason we had this stereo deeply embedded in our hearts and minds. This was when the big albums on the turntable were still popular and a radio was available with the same sound system—big advancement then! Of course, later followed the eight tracks, the cassettes, and now the CD’s, DVD’s, iPods and iTunes; and Lord knows what other digital creations will follow.
I remember vividly Nancy’s father at the close of Christmas Eve telling us just how hard it had been for them this Christmas. He said he had been “laid off” several times throughout the year and “things were tight.” His face was like that of stone; extremely disappointed himself.
Then he said, “We wished we could have gotten you that stereo you wanted so badly, but we didn’t have the money to get it for you.”(He almost welled up in tears, too.)
With a sudden burst of confidence and our hidden shock of disappointment we both replied simultaneously, “Ah, don’t worry about that we understand.”
But deep down in both our hearts we were sick. Our hopes were suddenly drowned by his words and our Christmas seemed to have ended. I think we all have a bit of rapacious spirit at times within us—-and we had already been playing our stereo in our dreams before we had received it. Ever do that?
That night when we went to bed I remember my wife having a few tears over our disappointment. Sounds crazy I know. It was just an electronic music system—nothing more. Or was it? Our hopes had been dashed against the rocks of disappointment. It was no longer about the little stereo we had long for; it was now about loss, about dealing with that inner aching disappointment.
When you set your heart upon receiving a gift that you just know is coming your way and then surprise! You do not receive the gift; a looming dark cloud of disappointment pervades your mind and soul. You can’t get it off your mind. It is so troubling!
Remember those two followers of the Christ who had left Jerusalem and they were traveling back to Emmaus about seven miles away. They were in total disarray and dismay because they just knew that this Jesus Christ of Nazareth was the Messiah who would rescue Israel.
Of course, the Lord himself appeared and began talking with them. After expounding upon the scriptures and visiting with them he revealed to them who he really was. And those famous words come alive in the scriptures when they look at each other and say:
Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures? (St. Luke 24:32 (KJV).
Christmas morning came and we awoke. I can still recall awakening with the thought that we will probably get that stereo next Christmas. Jean and I walked into the living room around the same old Christmas tree that her father had be putting up for years and years. And her dad and mom said with the biggest laughter and tears, “Surprise, we fooled you.” (An element of April Fool’s Day at Christmas was out of the ordinary for both of them—but that’s what happened.)
Underneath the old Christmas tree was our stereo. It was the best Christmas ever. Our dashed hopes of disappointment and disgust suddenly turned to joy and tears of happiness. What a memorable Christmas to say the least. They fooled us big time.
Almost two thousand years ago God came down those stairs of heaven with a baby in his arms and the world has found a surprise under the tree of life ever since. He brought hope midst despair, joy midst sadness and salvation midst helplessness. What a Christmas surprise to the world…to humanity! IMMANUEL.
+++Merry Christmas+++
Down the road ...
Ronnie Johnson
CHRISTMAS MOMENTS© (2007)
BY Ronnie Johnson
“Give and it shall be given unto you.”
REMEMBER THE DAY OF GIFTS
OF TIMES WITH FAMILY AND FRIENDS
OF SPECIAL INSPIRING MOMENTS UNDER THE TREE
WHERE LOVE IS TRANSCENDED BY TOYS AND PRESENTS
REMEMBER THOSE TENDER MOMENTS OF TEARS AND SURPRISE
OF SMILING FACES AND THOUGHTFUL GRACES
THAT ONLY CHRISTMAS COULD BRING
REMEMBER THOSE TOUCHING TIMES
WHEN CHILDREN PLAY AND SING
WHEN MOM AND DAD WRAP LATE INTO THE NIGHT
PREPARING FOR THAT CHRISTMAS MOMENT
WHEN CHILDREN’S EYES BECOME LIKE SAUCERS
AND PARENTS HEARTS BECOME LIKE CHILDREN AGAIN
IT IS A TIME OF GIVING AND RECEIVING
OF REMEMBERING AND LOVING
A TIME OF INCREDIBLE REFLECTION UPON THE PAST
UPON THOSE MANY CHRISTMAS MOMENTS
WE WANT TO LAST AND LAST
IT IS A UNIQUE DAY OF BLESSINGS
WHERE WE GIVE TO LIVE
WHERE WE SHARE TO CARE
IT IS THE DAY OF ALL DAYS THROUGHOUT THE YEAR
WHERE EVEN THE VILEST OF MEN
SEEM TO PAUSE AND EVEN SHED A TEAR
IT IS THE CHRISTMAS MOMENT IN TIME
IN A GIVEN YEAR
WHERE MANKIND REMEMBERS A CHILD
NESTLED IN THE HAY
WHO CAME TO SAVE US FROM OUR SINS
WHAT A DAY!
MERRY CHRISTMAS
Down the road ...
Ronnie Johnson
