No Pit So Deep

 "No pit is so deep that His love is not deeper still"

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Pits, literal and figurative, are not pleasant places to find ourselves in. Whether we dig our own or someone throws us in to one; they are dark, dreary, scary, uncomfortable, hurtful, harmful, cold, lonely.  

They are referenced in scripture literally; as in the pit that Joseph's brothers threw him in.

📖  And Reuben said to them, “Shed no blood, but cast him into this pit which is in the wilderness, and do not lay a hand on him”—that he might deliver him out of their hands, and bring him back to his father. Genesis 37:22

Or pits dug for battle (used to kill or capture the enemy)

📖 They spread a net for my feet—

    I was bowed down in distress.
They dug a pit in my path—
    but they have fallen into it themselves. Psalm 57:6

Or figuratively as places that separate us from the Lord and swallow us up, 

📖 You have put me in the lowest pit,

    in the darkest depths. Psalm 88:6

Or to represent Hell.

📖 You, Lord, brought me up from the realm of the dead;
    you spared me from going down to the pit. Psalm 30:3

📖 But you will be brought down to Sheol

into the deepest regions of the Pit. Isaiah 14:15

 

In some Scripture, the term pit is also used when showing there is hope in the Lord.

📖 God has delivered me from going down to the pit, and I shall live to enjoy the light of life.’ Job 33:28

📖 I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry.

2 He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire;
he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. Psalm 40:1-2

📖 I went down to the moorings of the mountains;
The earth with its bars closed behind me forever;
Yet You have brought up my life from the pit,
O Lord, my God. Jonah 2:6 (NKJV)

📖 Praise the Lord, my soul,

    and forget not all his benefits—
3 who forgives all your sins
    and heals all your diseases,
4 who redeems your life from the pit
    and crowns you with love and compassion,
5 who satisfies your desires with good things
    so that your youth is renewed like  psalm 103:2-5

I am not sure how, other than God's amazing grace and mercy, did Corrie, Betsy and others retain a thread of hope while enduring the work camps and concentration camps of WWII. There are many other stories of hope in the darkest of pits.

I have written of Joseph of Gensis (Can We See Beyond the Pit message April 2020) and how he kept his faith and served in every pit, literal and figurative he was thrown into.

The answer... GOD! Maintaining a relationship with God. Reading or quoting Scripture, talking to God even if only silently, finding a way to live and serve others in His name. 

And knowing that no matter how your time in the Pit ends....God has got it. Corrie Ten Boom received freedom from the Ravensbruck "pit" and continued to be a witness of God's love and forgiveness....but Besty also became free...when she died in that camp, free from the "pit" and the pain and is sitting with Christ Jesus. 

📖 My eager expectation and hope is that I will not be ashamed about anything, but that now as always, with all courage, Christ will be highly honored in my body, whether by life or by death.  For me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.  Philippians 1:20-21

I couldn't pray words any better than those found in Lamentations!

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📖 Those who were my enemies without cause hunted me like a bird. They tried to end my life in a pit and threw stones at me; the waters closed over my head, and I thought I was about to perish. I called on your name, Lord, from the depths of the pit.  You heard my plea: “Do not close your ears to my cry for relief.” You came near when I called you, and you said, “Do not fear.”  You, Lord, took up my case; you redeemed my life. Lord, you have seen the wrong done to me. Uphold my cause!

 Lamentations 3:52-59

♥️AMEN!

A Hankie Kind of Prayer; A Hankie Kind of Answer.

I saw a clip of an interview with Corrie Ten Boom on YouTube the other day...

(click on the link to watch the short clip)

🎬Corrie Ten Boom on prayer

Who would think to pray for a hankie? We might think..."pray to be removed from that situation", "pray for bigger,  better things."

And I am sure in all their prayers they did, but a hankie?  

To me this shows we can, and maybe even should, pray for the little, even inconsequential things.

📖 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. Philippians 4:6

Now, here is the other thing, if God answers with a hankie, are we grateful?  Or do we look at it and say, "but I needed the bigger things Lord. How can the small scrap of inconsequential stuff be helpful?"

Nothing is insignificant to God.

📖  Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care.  And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. Matthew 10:29-31

Nothing is lost on Him...and certainly nothing He does is small!

📖 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, Ephesians 3:20

He can use anything for His purpose and His glory.

But do we?

📖 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Phillipians 4:4

It was important enough to repeat. 

Remember God knows our circumstances and He grieves with us, 

📖 The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them;

    he delivers them from all their troubles.
18 The Lord is close to the brokenhearted
    and saves those who are crushed in spirit. Psalm 34:17-18

But He also can bring good in the circumstances if we look for them, instead of focusing on the things that are awful and wrong and bad....we look for the good 

Like a small hankie given as a gift in the middle of a concentration camp.  Or the fleas...(eatch this amazing story)

🎬Corrie Ten Boom Fleas and Lice

We don't pray for fleas, but we pray that God use our circumstances, show us what we are to do for Him in the midst of our trials.

📖 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33

It may be a hankie that we pray for,

Should we ask for any more?

We pray God opens our eyes to see 

what He has for us beyond the fleas. 

🙏🏼 Lord God, help us to know we can pray in all circumstances, trusting You can use any situation to bring about Your plan. Help us to be grateful to just be a part of it!♥️

Worth Repeating

This was originally posted Febreary 15, 2023. But is definitely worth repeating!

 🎧 CoffeeTime Audio

💘Valentine's Day.....to some it means showing the one they love how special they are, giving your Love flowers, chocolates, jewelry etc

💙Valentine's Day....to others it means disappointment, that their Love forgets, or doesn't give what all the media and stores are telling them they should be receiving IF they were really loved.

💔Valentine's Day ....for some it means pain, heartache, a reminder that their Love is no longer with them, whether the individual or the relationship has died. Either way it is a painful reminder of what they have lost.

To me I want all the red, and pink, the hearts and the rest are to remind me.....that I have been given the greatest Valentine ever!  

📖 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  John 3:16

That is LOVE

THIS is love!

📖 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 1 John 4:10

But because we are given such an amazing Valentine, we are to pass it on to others.

📖 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 1 John 4:11

IF we love one another...His love is complete IN US

📖  No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. 1 John 4:12

See, our love cannot be complete unless we pass on God's love to others. That doesn't mean romantic love, but genuine love, caring about an individual, beyond their choices, their beliefs.

 📖 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth. 1 John 3:16-18 

We live out God's commands as evidence of our love for Him, which means loving all.

📖 We love because he first loved us. Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister. 1 John 4:19-21

It is easy to love those being kind to us, those who agree with us, believe what we believe, worship how we worship, but what about the many others?

📖 “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full.  But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. Luke 6:32-36

IF we can love all others as Christ loves us we will be showing the world God's love....and giving those we meet the best Valentine ever!

My prayer🙏

📖 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. ❤️ 1 John 4:7-9

His Love is perfect!

🎵 Perfect Love Lincoln Brewster

As It Is Written

 Last week I wrote (rewrote) history  (Scripture). Sort of!  I intended it to be fiction and a fun exercise in thinking about how our faith being viewed by others could have an impact. 

But remember, that was fiction,  I would not want anyone to come across it and assume it was factual. What WAS factual was the Scripture references. 

THAT is what is important to take away. 

📖  All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.    2 Timothy 3:16-17

Throughout the ages there have been those who have tried to rewrite Scripture to fit their own agenda and narrative.

📖 “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. 16 By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them. Matthew 7:15-20

In the book of Luke Jesus was reading Scripture and those in his home town were pleased. Until He began to explain...He came as a fulfillment of that very Scripture.. Here He was THE living breathing Scripture.  He also explained that in scripture/history....God cared for all people, not JUST the chosen, or the "religious" and then they became incensed. 

📖    Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside.  He was teaching in their synagogues, and everyone praised him. He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read,  and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:  

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,

    because he has anointed me
    to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
    and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor."

Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him.  He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” they asked. Jesus said to them, “Surely you will quote this proverb to me: ‘Physician, heal yourself!’ And you will tell me, ‘Do here in your hometown what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.’”  “Truly I tell you,” he continued, “no prophet is accepted in his hometown. I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian.”  All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him off the cliff.  But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way. Luke 4:14-30

Jesus was explaining the truth of the Scriptures and it didn't match with how they had been teaching them, how they wanted them to be.

Jesus IS the TRUTH.

📖  Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. John 14:6

He wasn't changing or redirecting Scripture to fit His purpose. His purpose is to show us the truth. 

📖  For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me.  John 6:38

The truth in God's word. 

📖 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Matthew 4:4

We are to read it as God wants, to hear what He intends for us. The amazing thing about the Word is that it "speaks" to us. Not by being different every time we read it, but by changing us, making us more aware, more inline with what He wants.

📖   And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, Philippians 1:9-10

WE are different every time we read it!

It is God's conversation with us. We want to "hear" it as He intends, not as we want it to be.

🙏🏼📖 For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every famil in heaven and on earth derives its name.  I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being,  so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love,  may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.  Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. Ephesians 3:14-21♥️