Thursday, December 31, 2009
club mentality
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
winning over enemies
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
one for all
Monday, December 28, 2009
lighting the fire within
Sunday, December 27, 2009
He thinks of you
How great is the sum of them!
18 If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand;
When I awake, I am still with You.
Saturday, December 26, 2009
Mary's arms
Friday, December 25, 2009
in the midst of darkness
For you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways,
To guide our feet into the way of peace."
Thursday, December 24, 2009
future hope
if you find it, there is a future hope for you, and your hope will not be cut off. I thought about the hope that we have who have come to grasp the love of our Lord. Our hope is a future hope. It is beyond the scope of this natural life. It finds its fulfillment in the heavenly realm and it is not realized until we go through the door of death and leave this shell...this natural form behind. Our greatest aspirations cannot be realized until we experience what the world fears the most: "death". When we find the Lord, or more correctly, when we realize that He has found us we have found wisdom, as the writer of the Proverb says. I thought about how so many of our hopes are short-sighted ones that will be realized here. I also remembered that when the Bible talks about hope, it refers to an assured expectation as opposed to a wishful anticipation. As Paul says in Romans, chapter 8, 24 For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance. and again in 1 Corinthians 15:19 If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable. 20 But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
not of this world
In a sense, we who love the Lord, may be like a travel brochure for Heaven. When we allow Jesus to shine through our personalities from the inside out we may provide a glimpse of that eternal Kingdom where He rules, where we are headed, and where there remains room for others.
blessings,
Rob Smith
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
left behind
Monday, December 21, 2009
room for growth
Sunday, December 20, 2009
cut to the core
Saturday, December 19, 2009
snow white
And in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom.
7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Says the LORD,
" Though your sins are like scarlet,
They shall be as white as snow;
Though they are red like crimson,
They shall be as wool.
Friday, December 18, 2009
set free
Thursday, December 17, 2009
beneath the surface
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
secrets of the vine
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
the rest of faith
Monday, December 14, 2009
fog
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Rejoice!
Saturday, December 12, 2009
short thought
Friday, December 11, 2009
stuck in the mud
"What are we accomplishing?" they asked. "Here is this man performing many miraculous signs. 48If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation."
blessings,
Rob Smith
Thursday, December 10, 2009
two questions
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
No one ever spoke like this
46"No one ever spoke the way this man does," the guards declared.
I think Jesus is intent on getting a reaction, one way or the other, from us. As long as the folks in the crowd looked to reinforce their skepticism and disbelief with each other, they remained bitter and hateful. As individuals, however, when they blocked out the crowd and really listened to Jesus many allowed themselves to believe what their hearts told them to be true. They were willing to risk rejection by the crowd in exchange for acceptance by Jesus. In our days we are pulled by the crowd but we are also in range of the Lord's voice. Will we be smothered by crowd-think or resuscitated by the breath of the Savior!
blessings,
Rob Smith
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
anatomy of a disaster
therefore I will wait for him."
25 The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him,
to the one who seeks him;
26 it is good to wait quietly
for the salvation of the LORD.
blessings,
Rob Smith
Monday, December 7, 2009
spirit to flesh
Sunday, December 6, 2009
the old story
Saturday, December 5, 2009
enemy at the gates
Friday, December 4, 2009
What are you looking for?
Thursday, December 3, 2009
the nobility of every man
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
matter of death and life
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
not the Babylonians
Monday, November 30, 2009
The Re-Creator
9'But they shall serve the LORD their God and David their king, whom I will raise up for them.
10'Fear not, O Jacob My servant,' declares the LORD,
'And do not be dismayed, O Israel;
For behold, I will save you from afar
And your offspring from the land of their captivity
And Jacob will return and will be quiet and at ease,
And no one will make him afraid.
11'For I am with you,' declares the LORD, 'to save you;
(and He is with us as well!)
Blessings,
Rob Smith
Sunday, November 29, 2009
all in the spelling
Saturday, November 28, 2009
on things above
Friday, November 27, 2009
atmosphere
Thursday, November 26, 2009
a bird in winter
or the birds of the air, and they will tell you;
10 In his hand is the life of every creature
and the breath of all mankind."
blessings and thanks to He who made us, restored us and keeps us,
Rob Smith
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
refusing forever
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
nations and you
return to me,"
declares the LORD.
"If you put your detestable idols out of my sight
and no longer go astray,
2 and if in a truthful, just and righteous way
you swear, 'As surely as the LORD lives,'
then the nations will be blessed by him
and in him they will glory."
blessings,
Rob Smith
Monday, November 23, 2009
If you only knew...
Sunday, November 22, 2009
the dimension of prophecy
and carried our sorrows,
yet we considered him stricken by God,
smitten by him, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
Those words could have been written by a reporter from "Christianity Today" assigned to cover Jesus' crucifixion rather than someone who lived 700 years before the event.
As I consider the impact of such accurate prophecy it occurs to me that the remarkable plan of God is confirmed and given great depth. We shouldn't be surprised that this would happen. After all, God is sovereign over time and events. He knows what will happen before it does and He has a plan which is being worked out over the centuries that man walks the earth. It is good to be shaken out of my narrow "here and now" approach to living and refocus on the one true God who holds history in His hands and the future in His plans.
blessings,
Rob Smith