IMPRINTS part #2

And the Lord God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.” Genesis 2:18(NKJV)

Wow, the Lord knew Adam would be lonely and He created all these animals for Adam to care for, nurture and keep him company but none would be found comparable to Adam.  So the Lord pays Adam a holy visitation and an imprint is brought into his life which I am sure he never forgot!  You see a true imprint can never be washed away or forgotten.

And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. 
Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man.
And Adam said:      “This is now bone of my bones     And flesh of my flesh;     She shall be called Woman,     Because she was taken out of Man.” Genesis 2:21-23(NKJV)

Then God Himself performs the first wedding ceremony!!

V 24-25 Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.
And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.

From the very beginning of time the Lord instituted a covenant that affects us all in one way or another.  Whether we are the off-spring of this covenant or we are married.  Nothing will ever remove the marriage union, not man, Politian or times.  The Lord set forth this covenant and no amount of man’s doings will ever abolish it.  Oh, yes they will try but I am telling you it will endure.  You see even in Biblical times those people tried to pervert it but Jesus said;

Mark 10:3-9(NKJV)
And He answered and said to them, “What did Moses command you?”
They said, “Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce, and to dismiss her.”
And Jesus answered and said to them, “Because of the hardness of your heart he wrote you this precept. 
But from the beginning of the creation, God ‘made them male and female.’  
‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, 
and the two shall become one flesh’; so then they are no longer two, but one flesh. 
Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.”

Things appear dark out there in regards to marriages; it is time to turn our hearts back and reestablish solid foundations for marriages to be built upon and take part in a Holy union that is a reflection of Jesus Christ and the Bride…that is without spot or wrinkle!

To be cont’d…imprints



PLAN A

How many times have we said; “if Plan A does not work we will go to Plan B”?  If we had a dollar for every time that was said we would all be rich!

There were times in life where I have had only Plan A and there was no back-up plan (Plan B) to be had and that is where trust must come in.  Dan and I raised three daughters two years apart.  We came to this time in life where for seven years – three girls were in college and three weddings took place.  One of our daughters wanted an outdoor wedding on Labor Day weekend.  We rented the park and began to make all the arrangements for the grandeur event to take place.  During this time one on my friends said; but what if it rains?  My budget was extremely skinny due to the fact of three in college and we had paid for a wedding two years earlier.  I looked at my friend and replied there is no Plan B, we will trust the Lord.  My mind began to mull realizing the budget would not afford us a wedding tent or an alternate location but I pushed that aside and trusted the Lord.  By the way not only was the wedding beautiful on the skinny budget the weather was absolutely perfect!

There have been times where I sought the Lord for an answer asking Him should I do this or should I do that.  No answer came…I struggled with this  and more than once I have sensed the Lord say; Penny, I am going to bless you no matter what you decide to do in this…but Lord only you know the future and I do not want to miss your “plan” for us.  Penny, I am going to bless you no matter what you decide to do in this.  Yes, there will be many times when we do not get a direct answer to a prayer, but understand this as long as you are not sinning (because that is against God’s will and His Word), He always has you covered. 

If we obey the Lord through the guidelines that are laid out in the Word (Bible); Psalms 31:15(NKJV) My times are in Your hand; Deliver me from the hand of my enemies, And from those who persecute me.

Having thus taken to the best resource by trusting in Jehovah, and having made the grandest claim possible by saying, “Thou art my God”, the Psalmist now stays himself upon a grand old doctrine, one of the most wonderful that was ever revealed to men. He sings, “My times are in thy hand.” This to him was a most cheering fact: he had no fear as to his circumstances, since all things were in the divine hand. He was not shut up unto the hand of the enemy; but his feet stood in a large room, for he was in a space large enough for the ocean, seeing the Lord had placed him in the hollow of his hand. To be entirely at the disposal of God is life and liberty for us.

The great truth is this — all that concerns the believer is in the hands of the Almighty God. “My times”, these change and shift; but they change only in accordance with unchanging love, and they shift only according to the purpose of One with whom is no variableness nor shadow of a turning. “My times”, that is to say, my ups and my downs, my health and my sickness, my poverty and my wealth — all those are in the hand of the Lord, who arranges and appoints according to his holy will the length of my days, and the darkness of my nights. Storms and calms vary the seasons at the divine appointment. Whether times are reviving or depressing remains with him who is Lord both of time and of eternity; and we are glad it is so.  “My Times Are In Thy Hand”

A SERMON
(No. 2205)

Delivered on Lord’s-Day Morning, May 17th, 1891, by
C. H. SPURGEON,

At the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington

You can count on the fact; Psalms 16:6(NKJV) The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places; Yes, I have a good inheritance.

TRUST