16 Oct But on My Side is Power Divine

Hi there! Barnabas Willis here, the new Executive Pastor at Mosaic. Pastor Morgan asked me to share a little something with you this week, and something I read recently from the devotional, “Morning and Evening“, by Charles Spurgeon, has really spoken to my heart.

The thought is based on the scripture in Jude 1:24, “Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy…”

Surgeon writes:

“In some sense the path to heaven is very safe, but in other respects there is no road so dangerous. It is beset with difficulties. One false step (and how easy it is to take that if grace be absent), and down we go.

What a slippery path is that which some of us have to tread! How many times have we to exclaim with the Psalmist, ‘My feet were almost gone, my steps had well nigh slipped.’

If we were strong, sure-footed mountaineers, this would not matter so much; but in ourselves, how weak we are! In the best roads we soon falter, in the smoothest paths we quickly stumble.

These feeble knees of ours can scarcely support our tottering weight. A straw may throw us, and a pebble can wound us; we are mere children tremblingly taking our first steps in the walk of faith, our heavenly Father holds us by the arms or we should soon be down…”

This reminds me of how even when the enemy comes to trip us up, or our foes attempt to push us down, our Father in heaven reaches out his Almighty arm to keep us from falling. Spurgeon finishes his thought with the following:

“Such an arm is engaged for our defense. He is faithful that hath promised, and he is able to keep us from falling, so that with a deep sense of our utter weakness, we may cherish a firm belief in our perfect safety, and say, with joyful confidence,
‘Against me earth and hell combine,
But on my side is power divine;
Jesus is all, and he is mine!'”

I’m looking forward to seeing you Sunday! We will be concluding our series on “The Art of Neighboring” as well as giving you a super sneak peek into our special “Mosaic Turns 20!” service, which will be the following weekend, October 25 (and our Harvest Fest is that same afternoon from 4p-6p. Don’t forget to bring your candy donations so the parents, I mean the children, can have some treats at that event! :))

Barnabas