The Father’s Business – Restoration

The Father’s Business – Restoration

He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness
For His name’s sake. (Psalm 23:3 – NASB)

The Father and the Son are in the business of restoring in us what damage sin and Satan has worked upon us.

“A few years ago, an angry man rushed through the Rijks Museum in Amsterdam until he reached Rembrandt’s famous painting ‘Nightwatch.’ Then he took out a knife and slashed it repeatedly before he could be stopped. A short time later, a distraught, hostile man slipped into St. Peter’s Cathedral in Rome with a hammer and began to smash Michelangelo’s beautiful sculpture The Pieta. Two cherished works of art were severely damaged. But what did officials do? Throw them out and forget about them? Absolutely not! Using the best experts, who worked with the utmost care and precision, they made every effort to restore the treasures. (From SermonIllustrations.com)

No matter how slashed, and smashed and damaged you may feel you can be restored. God the Father is in the restoration business, and His Chief Restorer is Jesus Christ, working in the power of the Holy Spirit. Satan is the Destroyer; Jesus is the Restorer.

Soul Restoration

(© Thursday 11^th December 2014 – by Christopher Shennan)

He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness
For His name’s sake. (Psalm 23:3 – NASB)

The journey was long and the pilgrim walked

Over paths that were both rugged and steep;

His spirit was weary and danger stalked –

Trials appeared that oft caused him to weep.

His face was set to follow the true course

Of righteousness and of a godly sort;

He’d chosen his path for better or worse,

And thought of the battles he often had fought.

Though weary of soul his spirit will rise

As the restoring breath of God he breathes.

Though his strengths diminish and almost dies,

His weariness of soul just bows – and leaves.

No matter how far you are from your goal,

You can trust in Jesus to restore your soul.

Check out my books at My website: http://www.christophershennan.ca/
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Photograph by Philipp178. Copyright. Used under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license (note the disclaimer at this link.) No changes were made to this photograph.

The Keeping Power of God

The Keeping Power of God

Picture credits: Prodigal Son CC-PD-Mark

1 John 5:5-12

Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. (1 Peter 1:5 – KJV)

The Christian way is a supernatural undertaking from start to finish. No-one can hope to follow it in his own strength. If anyone is going to stay in the way of righteousness, they have to rely on something more than human strength. What is impossible with men is possible with God. God has made a way. Let us consider:

1. The Power of His Keeping

Who are kept by the power of God…”

No greater power exists, so no other power can shake us loose from His Way. Relying on our own strength is a sure prescription for failure. Depending on God’s power to keep us is a guarantee of victory against the world, the flesh, and the devil.

2. The Path of His Keeping

 …through faith…

God keeps us through faith. It is God’s way. It is the only way.

Faith is the victory that overcomes the world. Faith in God, and in the redemption Christ purchased for us on the cross of Calvary, is the pipe-line that connects us to all the riches of God’s Grace. The power of God’s keeping works through faith. Unbelief is the only thing preventing us from experiencing the mighty works of God. Jesus Himself could do no mighty works in the place where there was unbelief.

3. The Purpose of His Keeping

“…unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”

God is keeping us so He can reveal the full extent of His salvation once we have passed victoriously through this old world of sin and rebellion. When He has taken us through, He will be able to show us, and the universe at large, just how great the salvation is that He has obtained for us.

While we trust God’s keeping power, there is no need for us to falter or fall from the Way. His hand will guide us, and His Hand will hold us.

A Thousand Times

© Monday 3rd September, 2012 by Christopher Shennan

A thousand times I’ve fallen;

A thousand times knocked out –

A thousand times regretted

The things I’ve thought about.

But,

A thousand times I’ve risen

By a strength that’s not my own;

A thousand times I’ve given

Praise to my God alone.

A thousand times the heat

Of battle seared my soul:

Hope waned, then rose,

When mercy…made it whole… again.

A thousand times the blood

Of Calvary came through

To overcome and vanquish

The enemy – ‘tis true.

God’s keeping power has always

Been there to bring me aid;

As I rest upon God’s promise,

I’ll never be afraid.

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Called to Chains

 

Called to CHAINS

Picture credit: Public Domain CC0

Not only was Peter called to change, but he was also called to chains.

After Jesus’ resurrection, He told Peter:

I tell you the truth, when you were younger, you tied your own belt and went where you wanted. But when you are old, you will put out your hands and someone else will tie you and take you where you don’t want to go. (Jesus said this to show how Peter would die to give glory to God.) (John 21:18-19 – NCV)

 

As I have said before Peter refused to be crucified right side up, as Jesus was, feeling himself unworthy to be crucified in the same manner as his Lord. This is in stark contrast to the night Jesus was betrayed, when he denied the Lord three times.

Learn from this that early failures in our walk with Christ do not lock us into a pattern of repeated failure. Fears and failures of the past may act as a spur and goad to greater devotion in the future. Failures may also build in us gentleness to the failures of others, us as we consider our own vulnerability to failure.

It occurs to me also that the chains Peter endured before his crucifixion could teach us another lesson:

Restricting circumstances in our work, marriage, or other areas of our lives should not seem strange to us. They may actually give us an opportunity to shine for our Lord in the very place He has planted us. As Peter was given an opportunity to glorify God in sharing in His suffering, so our restricted circumstances may bring us to a crowning act of devotion to our Lord in the final days of our lives.

Early failures, like that of Peter’s parallels the experience of a bird with a broken wing. With loving care the bird can fly again. Under the tender care of our Lord, we, too, can soar into the purified air of God’s mercy and grace:

The Broken Wing*

(16, 17th August 1997)

                         I saw a bird with broken wing

                         That in its anguish could not sing,

                         Could not bring its breath to raise

                         A single note of heartfelt praise.

 

                         I saw this creature with its eye

                         Dimmed with pain, but lifted high,

                         Beholding sky and visions bright,

                         As though there were spectres in the night.

 

                         For broken bone and bloody stain

                         Caused hope within its breast to wane,

                         And rain upon its spirit fear

                         That flight would cost a price too dear.

 

                         But fly once more it did, my friend,

                         And swoop the valley end to end,

                         And rend the heavens with its song,

                         Though healing seemed to take so long.

 

                         I thought that broken wings can be

                         A parable to you and me.

                         For we, when serving Truth and Light,

                         Are sometimes wounded in the fight.

 

                         The darts of Satan find their mark

                         And plunge our spirits into dark.

                         The spark of pure devotion falls,

                         And seems stone deaf to mercy’s calls.

 

                         Our wing of praise or prayer is found

                         With wounds, and, fallen to the ground,

                         Unsound, we think our days of worship gone,

                         And find no breast to rest upon.

 

                         And yet, if patiently we wait

                         In hopeful or in restful state,

                         Soon or late, healing will arise

                         From God’s own heart – our only Prize.

Check out my books at:My website: http://www.christophershennan.ca
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