“And when Pharaoh drew nigh, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and, behold, the Egyptians marched after them; and they were sore afraid: and the children of Israel cried out unto the LORD.”-– Ex. 14:10

Have you ever been in a situation in which the only way out was God? Maybe it was a report from a doctor that gave no real hope. Maybe it was a financial catastrophe where you were on the brink of collapse. Maybe it was a marriage that was completely unraveling. Maybe it was a family conflict that was impossible to resolve. You didn’t think you possibly could survive such a thing.

   In Exodus 14 that’s the very scenario the Israelites were facing. They were caught between an unconquerable army and an impassable sea. They were between the impossible and the more impossible. But what they were about to discover was that with God, all things are possible.

   When God brought judgment on the earth in the days of Noah, things were looking pretty bleak. Genesis 8:1 says, “And God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle that was with him in the ark: and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters assuaged;”. You see, God had made a promise to Noah that they would find land and begin again. And God always keeps His promises.

Then there was Joseph, who was betrayed by his own brothers. They thought he was dead. But God spared his life, and Joseph said to them, “But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.” (Genesis 50:20).

   Even death does not have the final word. Death can seem so permanent, so hopeless. But Psalm 49:15 says, “But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave: for he shall receive me. Selah.”.

   God is bigger than any problem you’re facing right now.( Greg Laurie)

David Stone
Lakeway Baptist Church
5801 FM 1960 E
Humble, TX. 77346

“Speak unto the children of Israel, and bid them that they make them fringes in the borders of their garments throughout their generations, and that they put upon the fringe of the borders a ribband of blue:” – Numbers 15:38
   
   Throughout their generations the Israelites were bidden to wear it. It is the symbol of depth, of love, of Heaven. The azure sky, the glacier-rift, the deep lake, the far horizon, the eye of the hopeful, buoyant, tender nature – all tell the same story of deep and constant love, which mirrors below God’s heaven of love above. Therefore to wear this cord of blue was to be kept in mind of the eternal and unseen. No outward symbol is needed by us. The very best, after awhile, becomes tame and commonplace. We get so accustomed to it that it ceases to stir our thoughts. But if we will intrust ourselves to the Holy Spirit, He will teach us all things, and keep us always in mind. He is the blessed Remembrancer, whose mission is to bring Christ to our thought and keep Him there, the prominent object of our soul’s vision.
   
   The object of this cord of blue was to restrain the people from going about “after their own heart and their own eyes.” We need to be kept from the same, that we may walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. In our resolutions, our energies, our acts of consecration, our Christian activities, we are all too apt to go at the dictates of our heart and eyes. May God forgive us! It has been the source of our perpetual failure and defeat. There is. a more excellent way. Let us ask the Holy Spirit to keep the blue cord of the Christ-memory ever before our gaze, that we may become utterly absorbed in His beauty and glory, in doing His will, and in executing His commands. Let us seek to be bound to our Master, who is Love, by that same cord, that we may never for a moment forget the demands of the unseen and eternal.–F. B. Meyer

David Stone
Lakeway Baptist Church
5801 FM 1960 E
Humble, TX. 77346

“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.” Romans 8:28, 29
This is one of the most familiar and often quoted verses in the Bible. It has frequently comforted us in our times of tribulation or sorrow. We have been given confidence that there is a reason for the things we go through as followers of Jesus Christ. When God permits things to come into our lives, He promises that they will “work together for good.” We are then taught that the ultimate objective God has for us, is that we might be “conformed to the image of his Son.”
The finished product has to do with our taking on the likeness of Jesus Christ. The product is of great interest to every sincere follower of Jesus. We want to be more like Jesus. We want to sin less. We want to be more holy. We want to love God more and love this world less. We want to care for others as our Savior does. We want to serve others in the spirit of our Lord. We want to please the Father in all that we do.
Again, we want to be more like Jesus. However, in order to have the product, we must accept the process. How is God going to make us more like His Son? He has chosen to use the things that often appear to be intrusions, invasions, and inconveniences to help conform us to the image of Jesus. If we are going to have the product, we must be willing to accept the process. God is going to use the events and situations of our lives to make us less like ourselves, and more like Himself.
We all have “rough edges” that need to be removed. We all have attitudes that are in need of being overhauled. We sometimes have priorities that are out of line. God uses the things He allows to come into our lives to expose areas that need to be corrected. For instance, problems may reveal a lack of trust in the Lord. Opposition may manifest bitterness. Hardships may expose unrealistic expectations. Success may cause pride to surface.
It is through the refiner’s fire that impurities surface. Do not be discouraged. The process may be painful, but the product will be rewarding. God is using our circumstances to bring about the product He desires.– Thomas Smith

David Stone
Lakeway Baptist Church
5801 FM 1960 E
Humble, TX. 77346

“I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us” – Romans 8:18
    There are many things we do not know about the end of this life or the end of the world. But God has given us all the assurance we need in order to look joyfully, expectantly forward.
    Paul knew enough about what was coming to say, I reckon — an accounting term, meaning he had taken a careful inventory, done the calculations, and come to a careful and reliable conclusion. And what Paul was comparing was the sufferings of this time (with which he was intimately and personally acquainted) and the glory to come for every believer in Jesus Christ.
    As Paul added up the multiple trials, heartaches, losses, and sorrows of this world and carefully considered this sum in relation to the glory afterwards, he came to this stunning realization: the two should not even be compared, because the amount of the one is so far greater than the mass of the other.
    Anyone who has experienced even a fraction of the pain that this world holds will find this hard to imagine. We cannot conceive of a happiness so deep, a pleasure so complete, a glory so glorious that our grief here is swallowed up by it. But God does not ask us to fathom such a claim; he simply requires that by faith we believe it.
Are you living by faith in the enormity of glory, in the expansive joy that is found in the presence of Jesus? (Baptist Bible Hour)

David Stone
Lakeway Baptist Church
5801 FM 1960 E
Humble, TX. 77346

“While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.”- 2 Cor. 4:18
In our Christian pilgrimage it is well, for the most part, to be looking forward. Forward lies the crown, and onward is the goal. Whether it be for hope, for joy, for consolation, or for the inspiring of our love, the future must, after all, be the grand object of the eye of faith. Looking into the future we see sin cast out, the body of sin and death destroyed, the soul made perfect, and fit to be a partaker of the inheritance of the saints in light. Looking further yet, the believer’s enlightened eye can see death’s river passed, the gloomy stream forded, and the hills of light attained on which standeth the celestial city; he seeth himself enter within the pearly gates, hailed as more than conqueror, crowned by the hand of Christ, embraced in the arms of Jesus, glorified with him, and made to sit together with him on his throne, even as he has overcome and has sat down with the Father on his throne. The thought of this future may well relieve the darkness of the past and the gloom of the present. The joys of heaven will surely compensate for the sorrows of earth. Hush, hush, my doubts! death is but a narrow stream, and thou shalt soon have forded it. Time, how short—eternity, how long! Death, how brief—immortality, how endless! Methinks I even now eat of Eshcol’s clusters, and sip of the well which is within the gate. The road is so, so short! I shall soon be there.

“When the world my heart is rending With its heaviest storm of care,
My glad thoughts to heaven ascending, Find a refuge from despair.
Faith’s bright vision shall sustain me Till life’s pilgrimage is past;
Fears may vex and troubles pain me, I shall reach my home at last.” ( Charles Spurgeon)

David Stone
Lakeway Baptist Church
5801 FM 1960 E
Humble, TX. 77346