Stevemidkiff's Blog

As we choose to trust God through our trials, He will bring good things from even the most difficult situations.

“He comforts us in our troubles so that we can comfort others who are suffering.”

His comfort gives us the strength to comfort others.

His comfort builds our faith so that we can comfort others.

His comfort gives us the desire to comfort others.

His comfort demonstrates how we can comfort others.

The process of suffering, perseverance & proven character results in hope. Hope in the goodness & mercy of God… hope in all that He has promised us & the empowerment to share that hope with others.

Depend on God to help us use every experience in our life, every challenge & trial we have had, every mistake we have made & all that we have learned… to help others going through similar things.

We ask Him to help us demonstrate His love & comfort to others, just as He comforts us during our difficult times.

by Mindy Gray (processor at Goodwill)

Meditate upon what you read.

“I will meditate in thy precepts.”

Psalm 119:15

The Hebrew word to meditate, signifies to be intense in the mind.

In meditation there must be a fixing of the thoughts upon the object.

Meditation means serious consideration. Rather than emptying the mind, it means to fill it.

Thomas Manton writes that to meditate on the Word is to give it entertainment, treat it like a guest:

Receive the word, make it your constant guest.

There is an act of consideration; meditate upon it seriously, that truth may not float in the understanding, but sink into the heart:

‘Let these sayings sink down into your hearts.’

Luke 9:44

Believe the word: the truth is a sovereign remedy;

but there wants one ingredient to make it work, and that is faith:

‘The word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.’

Heb. 4:2

There is an act of the will & affections, which is called, ‘a receiving the truth in love,’

2 Thes. 2:10.

Make room for it, that carnal affections may not vomit & throw it up again.

Christ complains that ‘his word had no place in them,’

John 8:37,

like a queasy stomach possessed with choler, that casts up all that is taken into it:

‘A natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God.’

1 Cor. 2:14

So meditation is

Letting it lodge & quietly exercise a sovereign command over the soul.

Thomas Watson

“We do not know what we ought to pray for

Romans 8:26

Often it is the answers to our prayers that cause

many of the difficulties in our life.

We pray for patience & our Father sends demanding people our way who test us to the limit, because suffering produces perseverance

Rom 5:3

We pray for a compliant spirit & God sends suffering again, for we learn to be obedient in the same way Christ

“learned the cost of obedience from what he suffered”

Heb 5:8

We pray to be unselfish & God gives us opportunities to sacrifice by placing other people’s needs first & by laying down our lives for others.

We pray for strength & humility & “a messenger of Satan” 2 Cor 12:7) comes to torment us until we lie on the ground pleading for it to be withdrawn.

We pray to the Lord, saying, “Increase our faith!” Luke 17:5

Then our money seems to take wings & fly away; our children become critically ill; an employee becomes careless, slow & wasteful; or some other new trial comes upon us, requiring more faith than we have ever before experienced.

We pray for a Christlike life that exhibits the humility of a lamb. Then we are asked to perform some lowly task, or we are unjustly accused and given no opportunity to explain, for

“he was led like a lamb to the slaughter & did not open his mouth”

Isa 53:7

We pray for gentleness & quickly face a storm of temptation to be harsh and irritable.

We pray for quietness & suddenly every nerve is stressed to its limit with tremendous tension so that we may learn that when He sends His peace, no one can disturb it.

We pray for love for others & God sends unique suffering by sending people our way who are difficult to love & who say things that get on our nerves & tear at our heart.

He does this because
love is patient,
love is kind. . . .
Love is not rude, . . .
Love is not easily angered. . . .
Love always protects,
Love always trusts,
Love always hopes,
Love always perseveres.
Love never fails

1 Cor 13:4–5, 7–8

Yes, we pray to be like Jesus & God’s answer is:
“I have tested you in the furnace of affliction”

Isa 48:10

“Will your courage endure or your hands be strong?”

Ezek 22:14

“Can you drink the cup?”

Matt 20:22

The way to peace & victory is to accept every circumstance & every trial as being straight from the hand of our loving Father;

to live “with him in the heavenly realms”

Eph 2:6 above the clouds, in the very presence of His throne & to look down from glory on our circumstances as being lovingly & divinely appointed.”

Adapted from Streams In The Desert

Look how they reward us, to come to cast us out of

our possession, which you have given us to inherit.

O our God, will you not judge them?
for we have no might against this great company that comes against us;

neither know we what to do: but our eyes are upon you.
2 Chronicles 20:6-12

Bless the Lord, O my soul & all that is within me, bless His holy name.

Bless the Lord, O my soul & forget not all His benefits:

Who forgiveth all our iniquities; who heals all our diseases;

Who redeemeth our life from destruction;
who crowns us with lovingkindness & tender mercies;

Who satisfieth our mouth with good things;
so that our youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

The Lord executes righteousness and judgment for all oppressed.

Psalms 103

“A bruised reed He shall not break”

When Christ’s Spirit convicts us of our sin,

we don’t need outside reminders.

This awareness of how far we fall short of the glory of God

is enough to break us without the help

of those who are quick to point a finger at our faults.

Jesus doesn’t come down on us in a way that breaks us further.

He is always gentle in His approach.

Mom, this time of the year always floods my mind with memories

of you

You we’re so stoic & mysteriously beautiful

I’m not sure how many girls dropped out of Bothell High school in 1938

Although you never graduated you amazed me with your intellect.

You could whip through any crossword puzzle at lightning speed.

You were an incredible speller.

But here you are. You were only 15. And nowYou had your first

child in 1939

How did you cope having 3 children by the time you were 19?

Then you waited as you raised my 3 siblings. You waited until

you were 27.

Then in 1949 you let me be conceived & you protectively cuddled me

in your womb while I was designed. Thank you for giving me life.

I wish I could have blessed you as much as you have blessed me with

yourself. Memories of you are so rich & you were the greatest.

I remember when I was three & you taught me hymns while I sat

on a potty chair. I’m sorry mom. I was such a bed wetter.

Those memories are mixed with joy because you were patient with me.

I remember how you taught me about Bible heroes of the faith with

flannel graft.

I remember in 1957, we lived on Capitol Hill. You bought me a

JC Higgins bike. I thought it was so cool riding on Broadway with my

new bike.

Man, you wouldn’t recognize that area now. I was at blood-works

on Capital hill 2 days ago. I walked up & down Broadway.

I got a burger at Dicks drive in.

But I remembered those times in the 1950s.

I used to put a home built hydroplane on the end of a thick string & drag

it around in back of my bike. I also put playing cards that I close pinned

on to vibrate in my spokes. I’m sure you would have rode a bike with me

if we could have afforded one. But we were scraping by with very little.

But also, those memories bring back the embarrassment of me

being such a pathetic baby for so long. How miserable & inadequate

of me to put you through that. But I remember your patience & love.

Seems like I was 9 or 10 until I got that wetting thing squared away.

I remember, maybe I was 10, when you had that radical removal of your

breasts for cancer. It was so devastating for you & you ended up

with gaping indentations in your chest. You were in so much pain from

those physical gashes & concavities in your anatomy. I think that

was 1959 or 1960. I wish I would have journaled that because I feel

sketchy in my memories. I wanted to comfort you. But I was this loser

bed wetter. I’m so sorry.

Then, I think it was 1962. This moment is really etched in my memory.

I think Nancy had given you your 1st grand child. So Marjorie was carry

another grand baby. It was thanksgiving & you we’re in the kitchen

cooking.

To this day I have no idea why Marjorie, who was due any day & Larry

her husband drove over Snoqualmie pass in a blizzard.

So here you are cooking & we get a call. Dad answers the phone.

Then he turns from the phone in shock & says Marjorie & the baby have

been killed.

I’m standing next to you & you fall on your face to the kitchen

floor screaming & wailing & beating the floor with your hands.

It was like someone ripped something from each of our hearts

that day.

Your whole emotional architecture was never the same after that.

I wish I could have reached out to you with more understanding & love

then. But I was just 12 & was not coping myself with the tragedy.

I’m so sorry.

Of course I could dribble on & on with things that are in my heart about

you. But mom, let’s jump ahead. It seems like it was one cancer surgery after

another after that.

It’s now 1984. I’m living in Bellingham. I had a sales route where

I would drive from deception pass down to the ferry dock on Widbey Is.

I’d come across the ferry & drop in to see you in Bothell. As I remember it

I did that 2-3 times per week. You we’re declining more & more. I wanted

to pray over you & touch you with love & some kind of comfort.

I really hope I did. It’s like a lot of stuff in my memories, I tend to feel like

I tried hard, but wow, those were hard times for you.

You really had your stoic going big time. It’s like your emotions were

closing up inside of you. You we’re not talking much at all. I wish I could

have drawn you out more then. I’ll talk about that today, some more,

when I visit where your body is sleeping. There’s no reason to write

about those private moments we had with each other.

So that brings us to this day in 1986. Thanking for letting me share that

day with you. It’s one of my richest memories with you. I was 36.

You were 63. You let me be with you. You listened while I read Psalms

to you. You let me hug you. You let me comfort your forehead with a

warm wash rag. I know, it was awkward for me, you weren’t talking now.

But being with you as you stepped into Heaven, although it was sad

for me, it was glorious for you.

A new life. You were free now of pain & sorrow. Now you are in the

arms of Jesus. It just doesn’t get any better then eternal life.

Then, I watch this guy come. I watched them put you in a bag.

I’m sorry I got so upset with the guy who picked you up & put you

on that weird hand truck. I’m still irked that as he wheeled you

down a step at a time that if was so jarring on your body.

I know you were actually in Jesus arms then. But your body meant

so much to me & all the pain you had been through, it just wasn’t

sitting will with me that you were being banged around in your

own house. I really wish I would have just carried you out myself.

I looked at the van he came in & it was full of body bags with bodies.

I got upset again. I couldn’t get my emotions to cooperate. I felt you

deserved to have your own vehicle. I didn’t want you in a crowded

van full of dead bodies.

Suddenly my mind raced back to 1969. I had come home on

leave from the military. You let me borrow your beautiful new

Pontiac Bonniville. I took it out & totaled it. It was your favorite

car. You, after that never had as nice a car. I’m so ashamed I

wrecked the best car you loved so much. I never told you I was

smoking dope in your car before I went through that red light.

How grieving to have to admit that.

So, as they put you in the van, I looked away at your flower garden

and I wished you had been healthier over the final years of your

life. You so much enjoyed your flowers.

I miss you. Now I’m 70. I’d love to sit by the flowers & visit with you

as we enjoyed the flowers together. But you’ve left me with your

rich memories. And you mean so much to me.

I almost forgot. Thank you for giving me a deep love for sports.

You were amazing. You were kind of a Tomboy. You watched every

Baseball, Basketball & Football game they put on TV. You even

watched boxing. There were only 3 or 4 channels. But you were

amazing & a one of a kind.

You know I dreamed of being a preacher. Kind of a odd aspiration

I suppose. It makes me feel bad you never were healthy enough to

come listen to me drone on from a lectern.

Did you here me while I spoke at your funeral. Thank you for letting

me share that time with you at your memorial.

I still have those notes & the jottings of Temple Bailey that I read.

The young mother set her foot on the path of life. “Is this the long way?”

she asked.

And the guide said: “Yes & the way is hard. And you will be old before

you reach the end of it. But the end will be better than the beginning.”

But the young mother was happy & she would not believe that anything

could be better than these years. So, she played with her children,

and gathered flowers for them along the way & bathed them in the

clear streams & the sun shone on them & the young Mother cried,

“Nothing will ever be lovelier than this.”

Then the night came & the storm & the path was dark & the children

shook with fear & cold & the mother drew them close & covered them

with her mantle & the children said,

“Mother, we are not afraid, for you are near & no harm can come.”

And the morning came & there was a hill ahead & the children climbed

and grew weary & the mother was weary. But at all times she said to

the children

“A little patience & we will be there.”

So, the children climbed & when they reached the top they said,

“Mother, we would not have done it without you.”

And the mother, when she lay down at night looked up at the stars & said,

“This is a better day than the last, for my children have learned fortitude

in the face of hardness. Yesterday I gave them courage. Today, I have

given them strength.”

And the next day came strange clouds which darkened the earth, clouds

of war & hate & evil & the children groped & stumbled & the mother said: “

“Look up. Lift your eyes to the light.”

And the children looked & saw above the clouds an everlasting glory,

and it guided them beyond the darkness. And that night the Mother said,

“This is the best day of all, for I have shown my children God.”

And the days went on & the weeks & the months & the years & the mother

grew old & she was little & bent. But her children were tall & strong & walked

with courage.

And when the way was rough, they lifted her, for she was as light as a

feather & at last they came to a hill & beyond they could see a shining

road & golden gates flung wide. And mother said,

‘I have reached the end of my journey. And now I know the end is better

than the beginning, for my children can walk alone, and their children

after them.”

And the children said,

“You will always walk with us, Mother, even when you have gone

through the gates.”

And they stood & watched her as she went on alone & the gates closed

after her. And they said:

“We cannot see her but she is with us still. A mother like ours is more

than a memory. She is a living presence.”

Happy Mother’s Day Mom. I love you

Our significance or insignificance is related to who we follow

Our personal impressions of declining influence can daily hang around in our thoughts

We can get spun out with this & that in our experience

This lends to self-deprecation & why bear false witness.

Without Christ we are ineffective & can do nothing that has real meaning or lasting qualities

We’re exposed & time is chasing through our hands

The grim reaper plots to rob us & distort us of our eternal design of intimacy with Jesus

But Jesus says Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents & scorpions & over
all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.

So how do we look & experience what God has given to us.

First we have the promise of safe passage as we walk on snakes & scorpions.

Shoot, face it, poisonous devil filled reptiles & insects are on the rise with mind boggling destruction

Only in Christ is there protection from every assault of the Enemy.

Does that means No one can put a hand on us? Yes, in Christ everything is good

What the evil one designs for our destruction. God designs for our good

Our significance & influence is not in us but in Jesus

So we pray in His name.
We count it all joy
We rejoice evermore
We in everything give thanks
We pray without ceasing (we pray with persistent perseverance) never giving up

We do what Jesus called us to do:

Leave your nets (leave all the soul traps) & follow Jesus

Lord, even the demons are subject unto us

(along with all their demonic traps)
through Your name. Lk 10:17

Following God’s destruction of the northern military coalition,
the Israelites will gather & burn enemy weapons for a period of seven years.

That means a formidable arsenal will be collected!

This ongoing task will save the Israelites from having to cut down forest trees
for firewood for this extended time (Ezekiel 39:10).

Firewood will become a precious commodity during the tribulation period,
for after the first trumpet judgment, one- third of the trees of the earth
will be burned up Revelation 8:7

Commentator William MacDonald suggests that the fact that the Israelites
“will not need wood from the field or the forest with which to make campfires
would seem to support the view that the abundant & abandoned weapons are
indeed made of wood.”

Perhaps these are old-fashioned weapons.

Recall that the first three & a half years of the tribulation period could be so
catastrophically destructive that people will need to utilize whatever weaponry
they can find, including weapons made of wood.

I recall, reading one writer who wrote the theorized that powerful lasers will be
in use that will melt all iron & steel weapons. Stone Age weapons will be in demand
The NRA will be the national bow & arrow association

He that planted the ear, shall He not hear?
He that formed the eye, shall He not see?

Psa. 94:9

Imagine the omniscient genius of a God who can create an eye!

The eye contains tens of millions of electrical connections.
It can handle one & a half million messages at once.
About eighty percent of all the knowledge we absorb comes through the eye.

When we look at an object, light passes through the lens of the eye & is brought
into correct focus on the retina.

Covering less than the space of an inch, the retina contains one hundred thirty-seven
million light-sensitive receptor cells—one hundred thirty million rods for black & white
vision & seven million cones for full color vision.

These rods & cones are part of an extremely complex system.
The tiny eye muscles move about one hundred thousand times
a day to bring objects into focus.

We would have to walk fifty miles a day to give our legs similar exercise!

Our omniscient, omnipotent God created our eyes & our ears & all our
other awesomely intricate human organs.

Of course, the singer of this psalm could not possibly know what we know
about the eye & the ear.

He knew enough, however, to attribute their creation to God.
And he was wise enough to make the logical connection.

Surely the God of such creative genius—
Our God who could invent & engineer the human ear & eye—
Yes, such a God can hear & see! Of course He can!

But we say, wait, God’s invisible! Will that’s the appeal of faith.

God is more of a reality then ourselves. God’s eternal. Our life is a vapor.

God’s eyes see all. God’s ears hear all.

If we look back at the 3rd verse of Psalms 94 the Psalmist laments the way
God is reacting to the way things are playing out in life.

Lord, how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked triumph?”

This is an age-old problem, one we see repeatedly in the psalms, one we find
stirring the hearts of the prophets.

It puzzles us & it hardens skeptics & agnostics in their unbelief.

Why do the wicked triumph?

Seemingly they do.

One of the significant things that Daniel tells us about the coming Antichrist
is that he will “make craft to prosper.”

It looks initially that everything he does is effective

“How long shall they utter & speak hard things?
And all the workers of iniquity boast themselves?”

The word translated “utter” is stronger than that.
It occurs eleven times in the Old Testament,
always in the poetical books & literally means “to belch out.”

The picture we conjure up is that of an active volcano erupting & spewing
out the sulphuric fumes, deadly lava & ash which seethe from the depths.

When Mount St. Helens in Washington erupted it threw a cubic mile of dirt
sixty thousand feet into the air.

Gigantic mud slides composed of melted snow mixed with volcanic ash were
driven by waves of super-heated gas, erupted out of the crater.

Clouds of hot ash made up of pulverized rock were belched twelve miles into
the sky to fall back like dirty snow all over the eastern part of the state of Washington
and in neighboring states.

Schools, factories, stores, offices, highways & airports were closed because of near
zero visibility.

The psalmist reminds the Lord that His enemies, the enemies of His people, are doing that.

They are belching out poisonous boasts & blasphemies.

We see the pandemic virus that just belched out like volcanic eruption all over the earth.

It covered everywhere. It closed down everything

“They break in pieces Your people, O Lord & afflict Your heritage.

They slay the widow & the stranger & murder the fatherless.”

The attack on the elderly & the unborn is undeniable in our present times

They do not hesitate to murder the weak, the defenseless, and even the stranger.

From the earliest times among the peoples of the Middle East hospitality to the stranger
was regarded as a solemn & sacred duty.

The guest was sacred & untouchable.

The stranger In my understanding would an unknown Guest
or as I see it all unborn children.

We live in an era of a slaughter fest of the unborn.

Their seen as a curse & pestilence when they are a blessing & our very life of the future

We see total disregard for code or custom, the ungodly are preying on the orphan

God rejectors are preying on the widow & the alien
all those least able to defend themselves.

“They think, THE LORD shall not see, neither shall the God of Jacob regard it.”

That was the ultimate travesty. They had degraded the true & living God,

So the psalmist cries, “Hasten, Lord!

Life, precious valuable lives, are being ravished—

God is being mocked & ridiculed.

Do we think that He’s going to sit idly by & tolerate all this!”

He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? he that formed the eye, shall he not see?

Psa. 94:9

If you remain in Me & My Words remain in you,
ask whatever you wish & it will be given you.

JOHN 15:7

In creation God acts sovereignly & alone.

But in the unfolding of His redemptive purposes, He wills it otherwise.

He chooses to unite with Himself us & He share with us the excitement of creativity.

The incarnation was part of the working out of this plan.
He sent His Son to become man,
God reveals in a new way
His purpose to limit Himself to working in & through a relationship with us.

The vital, indispensable part of this working relationship is prayer.

God communicated His will to the Son in the intensive exercise of prayer that occupied so many of our Lord’s nights in desert places.

Then on earth, working according to His Father’s will, Jesus acted in the performance of signs & wonders, counting on the power he had requested in prayer because His will was one with the Father’s.

This brings us to the basic divine principle in prayer—

God uses us with Himself in whatever He wants to do,
We’re used through God leading us to pray
then giving us the thing for which He burdened us to pray.

God’s will is to send rain on Ahab’s drought-stricken land.
He will not act alone.
He unites Elijah with Himself in His purposes by communicating to Elijah His intention;
then when Elijah prays, God acts.

Elijah could bring a drought on Israel in the first place,
not just because he prayed the rain out of the sky,
but because he could first say,

“As the Lord God of Israel lives, before whom I stand.”

He was not initiating some self-conceived idea,
He was acting with God for the performance of God’s will . . .
for just such a situation as prevailed in his days.

The same principle is taught by the Lord Jesus under the symbolism of the vine & the branches.

Abiding in Him is the condition He established for our asking & His acting.

What had been set up as the working arrangement between Jesus & His Father
is perpetuated in our relationship between Jesus & His believers.

It was to be standard operational procedure.

ARTHUR MATTHEWS

Prayer is an impossible task without the Holy Spirit.

SAMUEL CHADWICK

When God intends great mercy for His people, He first sets them praying.

MATTHEW HENRY