We often talk a lot about our great faith in God, but sometimes it takes a child to help us see how miserably we fail:  A gentleman proposed to drive with his wife to the beautiful cemetery beyond the town. Calling his little four-year-old he told him to get ready. The child’s countenance fell, and the father said, “Don’t you want to go, Willie?” The little lip quivered, but the child answered, “Yes, papa, if you wish.” The child was strangely silent during the drive, and when the carriage drove under the wide archway he clung to his mother’s side and looked up in her face with pathetic wistfulness. The party alighted and walked among the graves and along the shaded avenues, looking at the inscriptions. After an hour they returned to the carriage and the father lifted his little son to his seat. The child looked surprised, and drew a breath of relief and asked, “Why, am I going back with you?” “Of course you are; why not?” “I thought when they took little boys to the cemetery they left them there,” he said. As this little child said obediently, “Yes, papa, if you wish,” though he thought he was going to a horrible death, so we should always say, “Yes, Lord,” to any command, though it seems like our death warrant.(Copied)

—-If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.–John 7:37   When I was a young boy we didn’t have indoor plumbing. You had to go outside to get water. I can still see that old water bucket sitting in the kitchen and the dipper that we used for drinking water. I even remember the sound of the dipper hitting the bucket when the water was almost gone. I thought of that the other day when I read an article by Pastor Roger Willmore. He said:   “Over thirty years ago, when I was a very young pastor still adjusting to all the demands that fall upon one in pastoral ministry, I found myself neglecting my study in order to meet other needs. One Sunday evening following the worship service a dear lady – a person who loved and cared for her pastor-said to me, “Pastor, I can hear the dipper banging against the bottom of the bucket.”

 

 

I have never in all these years gotten over that remark. It was her way of admonishing me to not neglect my time in the Word and with the Lord. My pitcher was empty…and she knew it.

 

 

What about your life—? Do you have supernatural power in your life and ministry? What is your power source? Are you weary and worn-out – can people hear the dipper banging against the bottom of your bucket? Or are you vibrant and victorious?”   How is it with you? Do you feel as though you are at the bottom of the bucket? Are you thirsty, dissatisfied, and desperate? If so, come to Jesus and He will fill you with the life-giving Spirit. He wants to meet your need today.

“That Christ should love man when he was most unlovely, that man’s extreme misery should but inflame Christ’s love and mercy, this melts the believing soul.

That Christ should leave the eternal bosom of his Father; that he that was equal with God should come in the form of a servant; that he that was clothed with glory, and born a king, should be wrapped in rags; that he that the heaven of heavens could not contain should be cradled in a manger; that from his cradle to his cross, his whole life should be a life of sorrows and sufferings; that the Judge of all flesh should be condemned; that the Lord of life should be put to death; that he that was his Father’s joy should in anguish of spirit cry out, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”; that that head that was crowned with honour should be crowned with thorns; that those eyes that were as a flame of fire, that were dearer than the sun, should be closed up by the darkness of death; that those ears which were wont to hear nothing but hallelujahs should hear nothing but blasphemies; that that face that was white and ruddy should be spit upon by the Jews; that that tongue that spake as never man spake, yea, as never angel spake, should be accused of blasphemy; that those hands which swayed both a golden sceptre and a iron rod, and those feet that were as fine brass should be nailed to the cross; and all this for man’s transgression, for man’s rebellion: Oh! the sight of these things, the believing of these things, the acting of faith on these things, makes a gracious soul to break and bleed, to sigh and groan, to mourn and lament.”

-Thomas Brooks

For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.–Mark 10:45

If anything, the Bible is a realistic book. It shows the ups and downs of those who serve God. Like us, sometimes they had good days and sometimes they had bad days (humanly speaking). The Bible doesn’t attempt to hide the humanity of its subjects or the realities of life in a fallen world. But surprise!–the Bible demonstrates a new reality with which the world is not familiar: It is possible to find joy in service, even when life is hard.

When the Bible says “rejoice always,” that isn’t a chant for a Christian pep rally. It’s part of the reality of the kingdom of God. For instance, when Paul and his companions were driven out of Pisidian Antioch by the Jews after preaching the Gospel there, “the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 13:52). Joy is part of the new reality of life in the Spirit since joy is part of the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22). When we are serving Christ, whether the service is easy or hard, there is joy to be found in it because it is the Spirit who directs it.

The surest remedy for discouragement is joy, and joy overflows in Spirit-led service for Christ. That is the new reality of life in the kingdom of God.–From Turning Point

Joy in the Lord should be the loftiest joy.
Charles Spurgeon

A pastor was once speaking at a large conference in Washington. Being the main speaker, his sessions were always full and everyone was very attentive, except for one man. One man always sat in the same seat in the front row of his sessions, and halfway into the sermon he would fall asleep. The first time it happened, the pastor thought the man had experienced a tough day of driving to get to the conference and accidently fell asleep. But night after night the same thing happened. Annoyed by the occurrence, the pastor had developed a bitter spirit toward this man. After the conference, the man’s wife approached the pastor and apologized for the man’s actions. As she explained, he had recently been diagnosed with terminal cancer, and the new medicine made him drowsy. But his one wish was to hear that pastor preach before he died, so they had made the long, painful journey to be at the conference. (Daily In The Word) How sad it is when we jump to conclusions, when we are guilty of judging others without knowing the facts. I’m sure we would be a lot less judgmental if we had to walk a mile in the other person’s shoes. When Jesus said,”Judge not”, He wasn’t saying that we should ignore facts. He was warning us about judging others presumptously, hypocritically, hastily, and un-mercifully. Things are not always what they appear to be. Make sure that you know the facts before you criticize someone. It just might be that you are a lot worse than you think they are.