6-9-09
OUT ON THE RANCH this morning I was impressed with the writings of Spurgeon.

"The Lord hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad."— Ps 126:3
Some Christians are sadly prone to look on the dark side of everything, and to dwell more upon what they have gone through than upon what God has done for them. Ask for their impression of the Christian life, and they will describe their continual conflicts, their deep afflictions, their sad adversities, and the sinfulness of their hearts, yet with scarcely any allusion to the mercy and help which God has allowed them. But a Christian whose soul is in a healthy state, will come forward joyously, and say, "I will speak, not about myself, but to the honor of my God. He has brought me up out of an horrible pit, and out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings: and He has put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God. The Lord has done great things for me, and I am glad." Such an abstract of experience as this is the very best that any child of God can present. It is true that we endure trials, but it is just as true that we are delivered out of them. It is true that we have our corruptions, and mournfully do we know this, but it is quite as true that we have an all-sufficient Savior, who overcomes these corruptions, and delivers us from their dominion. In looking back, it would be wrong to deny that we have been in the Slough of Despond, and have crept along the Valley of Humiliation, but it would be equally wicked to forget that we have been through them safely and profitably; we have not remained in them, thanks to our Almighty Helper and Leader, who has brought us "out into a wealthy place." The deeper our troubles, the louder our thanks to God, who has led us through all, and preserved us until now. Our griefs cannot mar the melody of our praise, we reckon them to be the bass part of our life's song, "He has done great things for us, and we are glad. (MR. SPURGEON)

The enemy of our soul delights in our misery, and if he can convince us how “sorry” our life is, he has the battle half won. I was walking a couple of days ago and began to try to think of everything I had to praise God for. I stated with the green grass, the wonderful rain, the cool crisp morning and went on to my beautiful wife, friends, and most of all my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The walk lasted about 45 minutes and I never ran out of things to praise Him for. What was really amazing was how wonderful I felt inside when the walk was over. We can have a million things “right” in our life and the enemy reminds us of the one or two things that are challenging us. Most of the negative things that come to our mind never come to pass anyway. Our lives would be so much sweeter if we would heed the advice of Scripture:
Phil 4:8-9
Meditate on These Things
8 Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy — meditate on these things. 9 The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.
NKJV
Meditation upon the positive things of live is a simple concept, but extremely hard to master. You must have faith to believe this, because it is sooo…. Difficult!!! The only way we can accomplish the practice is by the power of Jesus Christ. We can accomplish a great deal by our so called “strong will”, but we will always fail unless undergirded with the power of the Spirit. The “Good News” is that by the blood of Christ we can take every thought captive, and become a non-worrying positive person. The rewards from cultivating this discipline are totally awesome, and I encourage you to begin today!!!
GOD BLESS
ALWAYS YOUR FRIEND
RIDGE