Dear Missionary Lady,
Greetings in the name of our sovereign God. Aren't you glad
He is in control?
Consider the alternatives. If Satan were in control, evil
and destruction would be unchecked. If evil men were in control, our world
would be an ugly and unfriendly place. If good men were in control, they would
still make wrong decisions and would be powerless to accomplish all they wanted
to do. If we ourselves were in control, we would make decisions that later we
would realize were not right.
Thankfully, none of those people are in control. Their
wickedness, weakness, or lack of wisdom would lead to disaster. God, on the
other hand, always knows the right thing and always has the power to bring it
about. "For I know that the LORD is great, and that our Lord is above all
gods" (Psalm 135:5).
Because He is so great and powerful, He does everything that
He desires. "Whatsoever the LORD pleased, that did he in heaven, and in
earth, in the seas, and all deep places" (v. 6).
The Bible is filled with wonderful examples of how God
intervened and overruled. Psalm 135 shares several examples. God chose Israel
as His special people (v. 4). He controls the weather (v. 7). He brought
judgment to Egypt, incredible plagues, mighty deliverance, military conquests, and
carved out an inheritance for His people (vs. 8-12).
His mighty, controlling hand has not stopped. You have seen
Him do great and unexpected things in your life. You have witnessed situations
that would have been unbelievable apart from God's intervention.
People often reflect back at the end of the year on God's
great works. Psalm 135 gives the proper response at such times: praising God
and blessing God, (which together are mentioned eleven times in vs. 1-3 and
19-21). I trust that you have much to praise Him for over the past year - souls
saved, hard hearts broken, lives transformed, wisdom, growth, safety, health,
provision, and more.
God's choices are not always pleasant at the time. Some of
them are painful and confusing, but that doesn't make them wrong. Even in
sickness, accidents, closed doors, and setbacks, God is still accomplishing
whatever He pleases. He uses adversity and difficulty to achieve His purposes,
and sometimes we don't see the benefit until later.
As you stand at the end of this year, may your heart be
filled with praise for what God has done, both what you understand and
appreciate as well as the situations for which you still await the
illumination. As you look forward to a new year and the uncertainty that it
holds, may you rest confidently in the one who will accomplish His purposes.
Even though you don't know what will happen, you can trust the great God who
does whatsoever He pleases.
Love in Christ,
Peggy Holt
member at Open Door Baptist Church in Lebanon, PA
www.pressingontohigherground.blogspot.com
Sunday, December 29, 2019
Saturday, December 21, 2019
12212019 Merry Christmas
Dear Missionary Lady,
Greetings, sisters. I'm sure this is a very busy time for most of you, as it is for most people everywhere.
Today I just want to wish you a merry Christmas. I pray that you will have a profitable time sharing the message of God's love through the various events, outreaches, and services in which you will be participating.
Recently my heart was really touched by Ron Hamilton's words from "Born to Die": "O'er the place where He lay fell a shadow cold and gray of a cross that would humble a King." The joy of that long-awaited birth was inseparable from the grim reality of what was to come. I'm so thankful that Jesus was willing to come for me and die for me - such love and sacrifice.
I love you all and love what you are doing in service for God. It is a rare week when I don't pray for you at least once, and I just want you to know that you are special to me and that writing to you is one of the highlights and most meaningful parts of my week. May God bless you.
Love in Christ,
Peggy Holt
member at Open Door Baptist Church in Lebanon, PA
www.pressingontohigherground.blogspot.com
Greetings, sisters. I'm sure this is a very busy time for most of you, as it is for most people everywhere.
Today I just want to wish you a merry Christmas. I pray that you will have a profitable time sharing the message of God's love through the various events, outreaches, and services in which you will be participating.
Recently my heart was really touched by Ron Hamilton's words from "Born to Die": "O'er the place where He lay fell a shadow cold and gray of a cross that would humble a King." The joy of that long-awaited birth was inseparable from the grim reality of what was to come. I'm so thankful that Jesus was willing to come for me and die for me - such love and sacrifice.
I love you all and love what you are doing in service for God. It is a rare week when I don't pray for you at least once, and I just want you to know that you are special to me and that writing to you is one of the highlights and most meaningful parts of my week. May God bless you.
Love in Christ,
Peggy Holt
member at Open Door Baptist Church in Lebanon, PA
www.pressingontohigherground.blogspot.com
Saturday, December 14, 2019
12142019 Trouble Doesn't Win
Dear Missionary Lady,
Greetings in the name of our reviving God! Life has many ups and downs, and it is God who heals and restores from the difficulties to again bring blessing.
"Thou, which hast shewed me great [abundant] and sore [afflicting, vexing, miserable] troubles, shalt quicken [make alive] me again, and shalt bring me up again from the depths of the earth" (Psalm 71:20).
Yes, man is born to trouble, just as sure as the sparks that fly upward. Troubles are part of life. As the above verse states, those troubles can be great. Taken over the course of life, they can add up to a mighty high pile! Sometimes they do come in combination, with several descending at the same time. Troubles can also be sore. The oppressive nature of the struggles can seem more than we can bear.
Those troubles do come from God's hand, either designed or permitted by Him, and always intended to accomplish His good purposes. The same God, however, who shows the troubles also delivers from them. Troubles are temporary. They always end. God does raise His suffering children up again.
The descriptions of what God does - quickening and bringing up from the depths - actually reveal just how difficult the trials are. They sap the life right out of us. We can feel completely flattened and deflated, sunk lower than we thought possible.
The depths of struggle, however, serve to highlight the amazing deliverance of God when it comes. God can bring new life to the one who was down to his last gasping breath. God can make to stand the one who was in a deep pit and nearly buried. The extent of His restoration is remarkable.
I love two other verses that express this same truth. "For he maketh sore, and bindeth up; he woundeth, and his hands make whole" (Job 5:18). "For though he cause grief, yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies. For he doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men" (Lamentations 3:32-33).
The trouble itself is never the whole process. There is always healing and compassion and restoration that comes afterward. God does not leave His children broken, battered, and deflated.
Some people view the troubles of life as an excuse to reject God. They label God as cruel, harsh, and vindictive. These two verses show that this is a wrong evaluation. God doesn't bring pain for no reason. He brings affliction only when it is necessary for correction or for growth; when the trouble has done its work, He lovingly brings relief. These verses that mention wounds and grief also speak of mending and healing, of compassion and abundant mercies.
Aren't you glad we serve a God who limits trials to the minimum required to accomplish the goal? Aren't you glad He never lets the trial have the last word? Aren't you glad He lovingly heals and restores, that He gives new life to the one who was wounded so deeply? He is both a good God and a wise God. May He strengthen and use you this week, even as He continues to mold and equip you.
Love in Christ,
Peggy Holt
member at Open Door Baptist Church in Lebanon, PA
www.pressingontohigherground.blogspot.com
Greetings in the name of our reviving God! Life has many ups and downs, and it is God who heals and restores from the difficulties to again bring blessing.
"Thou, which hast shewed me great [abundant] and sore [afflicting, vexing, miserable] troubles, shalt quicken [make alive] me again, and shalt bring me up again from the depths of the earth" (Psalm 71:20).
Yes, man is born to trouble, just as sure as the sparks that fly upward. Troubles are part of life. As the above verse states, those troubles can be great. Taken over the course of life, they can add up to a mighty high pile! Sometimes they do come in combination, with several descending at the same time. Troubles can also be sore. The oppressive nature of the struggles can seem more than we can bear.
Those troubles do come from God's hand, either designed or permitted by Him, and always intended to accomplish His good purposes. The same God, however, who shows the troubles also delivers from them. Troubles are temporary. They always end. God does raise His suffering children up again.
The descriptions of what God does - quickening and bringing up from the depths - actually reveal just how difficult the trials are. They sap the life right out of us. We can feel completely flattened and deflated, sunk lower than we thought possible.
The depths of struggle, however, serve to highlight the amazing deliverance of God when it comes. God can bring new life to the one who was down to his last gasping breath. God can make to stand the one who was in a deep pit and nearly buried. The extent of His restoration is remarkable.
I love two other verses that express this same truth. "For he maketh sore, and bindeth up; he woundeth, and his hands make whole" (Job 5:18). "For though he cause grief, yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies. For he doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men" (Lamentations 3:32-33).
The trouble itself is never the whole process. There is always healing and compassion and restoration that comes afterward. God does not leave His children broken, battered, and deflated.
Some people view the troubles of life as an excuse to reject God. They label God as cruel, harsh, and vindictive. These two verses show that this is a wrong evaluation. God doesn't bring pain for no reason. He brings affliction only when it is necessary for correction or for growth; when the trouble has done its work, He lovingly brings relief. These verses that mention wounds and grief also speak of mending and healing, of compassion and abundant mercies.
Aren't you glad we serve a God who limits trials to the minimum required to accomplish the goal? Aren't you glad He never lets the trial have the last word? Aren't you glad He lovingly heals and restores, that He gives new life to the one who was wounded so deeply? He is both a good God and a wise God. May He strengthen and use you this week, even as He continues to mold and equip you.
Love in Christ,
Peggy Holt
member at Open Door Baptist Church in Lebanon, PA
www.pressingontohigherground.blogspot.com
Friday, December 6, 2019
12062019 Ends of the Earth
Dear Missionary Lady,
I recently read a great missionary verse. "By terrible things in righteousness wilt thou answer us, O God of our salvation; who art the confidence of all the ends of the earth, and of them that are afar off upon the sea" (Psalm 65:5).
While missionaries can be in the middle of booming cities, many of them are in some remote places. They go to places people have never heard of, and live in places few people ever visit. In each of those places, whether highly civilized (but far from home) or rugged and poor (and far from home), God is there. God can be confidently depended on by those who live and travel in what seem to be the ends of the earth.
For fun, I found a website listing twelve of the remotest locations on earth. How many have you heard of? 1) Ittoqqortoormiit, Greenland. One of the most remote towns in a remote country. 2) Kerguerlen Islands. A French territory in the Indian Ocean, also known as the Desolation Islands, 3,300 km from the nearest populated location. 3) Pitcairn Island. A British island in the South Pacific - population 50. 4) Tristan Da Cunha. An archipelago 2,000km from inhabited land. 5) Oymyakon, Russia. One of the coldest places on earth. Record -90F. 6) Chang Tang, Tibet. A high plateau home to 500,000 nomadic (and rarely seen) people. An explorer who crossed the region didn't see anyone for 81 days. 7) Medog County, China. The last county in China to get road access (but only for 9 months of the year). 8) The South Pole. Six months of continuous night. 9) Easter Island. 3,512 km from the coast of Chile. 10) Barrow, Alaska. The northernmost point in the USA. 11) Longyearbyen, Svalbard. The world's northernmost settlement of at least 1000 residents. 12) Point Nemo. The point in the ocean that is furthest from land. Often the closest humans are actually aboard the International Space Station, which passes six times closer than the nearest land.
If you were a missionary in one of those places, could God be your confidence there? Would He hear you there? Would He be your help? Absolutely! There is nowhere so remote that God is not there with you to be your helper. There is nowhere you can go where you can't rely on Him.
Verses 2-4 of this psalm share some really important things about the God who is our help. He hears prayer (v. 2). He forgives sins (v. 3). He allows people to approach Him (v. 4). Without those three things, we would all be sunk!
Can God really intervene over all the earth - to the remotest corners? Consider what the remainder of the psalm reveals about His power and control of the earth. He puts the mountains in place (v. 6) - mountains that no one has ever climbed and that only small numbers of people have ever seen. Mountains where isolated people live in poverty.
God stills the seas (v. 7). Seas that are so treacherous they discourage travel. Seas characterized by dangerous currents, underwater reefs, and rocky shores. Seas so vast they create seemingly unreachable locations. Seas containing islands where visitors rarely come and residents never leave.
God makes the dawn and twilight (v. 8). The universal beauty reaches every creature on earth. The sun's rays penetrate the thickest jungle and the remotest rainforest. They shine over the entire vast deserts and to every corner of the sea.
God gives rain and food to the whole earth and makes the animals flourish (vs. 9-12). Whether that food is rice, beans, manioc, fish, or tropical fruit, it all comes from God. He provides enough rain for each habitat, to support its growing needs, whether in the desert or the rain forest. Whether the creatures raised are sheep, camels, cattle, or reindeer, they are provided for by the hand of God.
God is in all those places. He loves and is able to save the people who live in each of them. He can protect and help His servants who go even to those places, and certainly to those less remote as well. Even though most people think you live at the end of the earth, you are never outside the realm of God's help. May He be your confidence this week, wherever you are!
Love in Christ,
Peggy Holt
member at Open Door Baptist Church in Lebanon, PA
www.pressingontohigherground.blogspot.com
I recently read a great missionary verse. "By terrible things in righteousness wilt thou answer us, O God of our salvation; who art the confidence of all the ends of the earth, and of them that are afar off upon the sea" (Psalm 65:5).
While missionaries can be in the middle of booming cities, many of them are in some remote places. They go to places people have never heard of, and live in places few people ever visit. In each of those places, whether highly civilized (but far from home) or rugged and poor (and far from home), God is there. God can be confidently depended on by those who live and travel in what seem to be the ends of the earth.
For fun, I found a website listing twelve of the remotest locations on earth. How many have you heard of? 1) Ittoqqortoormiit, Greenland. One of the most remote towns in a remote country. 2) Kerguerlen Islands. A French territory in the Indian Ocean, also known as the Desolation Islands, 3,300 km from the nearest populated location. 3) Pitcairn Island. A British island in the South Pacific - population 50. 4) Tristan Da Cunha. An archipelago 2,000km from inhabited land. 5) Oymyakon, Russia. One of the coldest places on earth. Record -90F. 6) Chang Tang, Tibet. A high plateau home to 500,000 nomadic (and rarely seen) people. An explorer who crossed the region didn't see anyone for 81 days. 7) Medog County, China. The last county in China to get road access (but only for 9 months of the year). 8) The South Pole. Six months of continuous night. 9) Easter Island. 3,512 km from the coast of Chile. 10) Barrow, Alaska. The northernmost point in the USA. 11) Longyearbyen, Svalbard. The world's northernmost settlement of at least 1000 residents. 12) Point Nemo. The point in the ocean that is furthest from land. Often the closest humans are actually aboard the International Space Station, which passes six times closer than the nearest land.
If you were a missionary in one of those places, could God be your confidence there? Would He hear you there? Would He be your help? Absolutely! There is nowhere so remote that God is not there with you to be your helper. There is nowhere you can go where you can't rely on Him.
Verses 2-4 of this psalm share some really important things about the God who is our help. He hears prayer (v. 2). He forgives sins (v. 3). He allows people to approach Him (v. 4). Without those three things, we would all be sunk!
Can God really intervene over all the earth - to the remotest corners? Consider what the remainder of the psalm reveals about His power and control of the earth. He puts the mountains in place (v. 6) - mountains that no one has ever climbed and that only small numbers of people have ever seen. Mountains where isolated people live in poverty.
God stills the seas (v. 7). Seas that are so treacherous they discourage travel. Seas characterized by dangerous currents, underwater reefs, and rocky shores. Seas so vast they create seemingly unreachable locations. Seas containing islands where visitors rarely come and residents never leave.
God makes the dawn and twilight (v. 8). The universal beauty reaches every creature on earth. The sun's rays penetrate the thickest jungle and the remotest rainforest. They shine over the entire vast deserts and to every corner of the sea.
God gives rain and food to the whole earth and makes the animals flourish (vs. 9-12). Whether that food is rice, beans, manioc, fish, or tropical fruit, it all comes from God. He provides enough rain for each habitat, to support its growing needs, whether in the desert or the rain forest. Whether the creatures raised are sheep, camels, cattle, or reindeer, they are provided for by the hand of God.
God is in all those places. He loves and is able to save the people who live in each of them. He can protect and help His servants who go even to those places, and certainly to those less remote as well. Even though most people think you live at the end of the earth, you are never outside the realm of God's help. May He be your confidence this week, wherever you are!
Love in Christ,
Peggy Holt
member at Open Door Baptist Church in Lebanon, PA
www.pressingontohigherground.blogspot.com
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