I Lift My Hands to Believe Again...

Be still, there is a Healer
His love is deeper than the sea
His mercy is unfailing
His arms, a fortress for the weak

Let faith arise...

I lift my hands to believe again
You are my refuge,
You are my strength
As I pour out my heart,
These things I remember
You are faithful, God, forever

Be still, there is a river
That flows from Calvary's Tree
A fountain for the thirsty
Your grace that washes over me

Let faith arise...

I lift my hands to believe again
You are my refuge,
You are my strength
As I pour out my heart,
These things I remember
You are faithful, God, forever

-Chris Tomlin

Exceeding Riches...

"And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins,
in which you once walked according to the course of this world,
according to the prince of the power of the air,
the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience,
among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind,
and were by nature children of wrath,
just as the others.
But God, who is rich in mercy,
because of His great love with which He loved us,
even when we were dead in trespasses,
made us alive together with Christ
(by grace you have been saved),
and raised us up together,
and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
that in the ages to come He might show
the exceeding riches of His grace
in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
For by grace you have been saved through faith,
and that not of yourselves;
it is the gift of God, not of works,
lest anyone should boast.
For we are His workmanship,
created in Christ Jesus for good works,
which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them."
Ephesians 2:1-10

Tozer Devo

With all the talks of the elections and such, this devo, written back in 1966, is SO applicable to our own day and age, not just in the world, but also in the church.

It's always good to search our own hearts, to looks at who we as Christians are supporting, who are we looking to lead us in and out of church? Who do WE support? Anyway, LOVED this devo and wanted to share it!

***
Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.... Blessed are
the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
--Matthew 5:5-8

"We have but to become acquainted with, or even listen to, the big
names of our times to discover how wretchedly inferior most of them
are. Many appear to have arrived at their present eminence by pull,
brass, nerve, gall and lucky accident. We turn away from them sick to
our stomach and wonder for a discouraged moment if this is the best
the human race can produce. But we gain our self-possession again by
the simple expedient of recalling some of the plain men we know, who
live unheralded and unsung, and who are made of stuff infinitely
finer than the hoarse-voiced braggarts who occupy too many of the
highest offices in the land. . . .

. . . the church also suffers from this evil notion. Christians have
fallen into the habit of accepting the noisiest and most notorious
among them as the best and the greatest. They too have learned to
equate popularity with excellence, and in open defiance of the Sermon
on the Mount they have given their approval not to the meek but to
the self-assertive; not to the mourner but to the self-assured; not
to the pure in heart who see God but to the publicity hunter who
seeks headlines."

-AW Tozer

Praying for the Persecuted Church - Chechnya

Oh my goodness. I just cannot believe that we are almost half way through October. Forgive me for not getting this month's prayer country up sooner. I just can't seem to keep up with time!

This month let's pray for Chechnya. Chechnya was originally part of the USSR and is now a federal subject of Russia. It has seen much violence in it's recent history. (wiki info)

Please keep our brothers and sisters in Christ living in Chechnya in your prayers this month.

Here are some things to pray for, from Open Doors

The church is very young, vulnerable and isolated. Fellowship with other believers is almost impossible. An Islamic revival is taking place in Chechnya; the largest mosque in the Caucasus has been built in Grozny. Christianity is associated with Russia and Chechen believers whose faith becomes public are seen as traitors to Islam and society. Local authorities and relatives monitor the activities of Christians and put great pressure on them to return to Islam.

Please pray :

• That the few Christians would persevere in faith. Several have turned away from their faith as the pressure became too great
• That Christians may know how to live and witness in their situations
• For the many orphans whose parents were killed during the wars. Pray that God's love and compassion will reach their hearts and transform their lives.

It's Been a While

I have not shared a Tozer devo in a while. This is a great one, hopefully very encouraging to all of you who take the minute to read it!

---

For as the heavens are 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 103:11-12

Do not let any of the things of the world or past mistakes paralyze
your hearts. I believe there are Christians who have allowed some of
their past mistakes to paralyze them. You were so bright and cheerful
in your spiritual life once, and then you made some tragic mistake or
had something happen to you. You got out of it somehow, and prayed
and wept your way out of it. But it did something to you, and now you
cannot lick it. Past wrongs that have been done to you, past
failures, times you thought you were going to win and did not, or
present sins or discouragement-these things are not mental at all.
They are deeper than that; they are subconscious, and they prevent us
from believing.

I most urgently exhort you, and I trust God Almighty to deliver you;
to sponge that out of your spirit; to sponge that out of your heart
so you are not hindered by unbelief.

-AW Tozer