Peniel Pentecostal Holiness Church

3239 Rosebud Road Walnut Cove NC 27052
Pastor: Dr. Tim Nelson -  Church Office 336-591-36112
A Place To Encounter God Face To Face. Gen. 32:3

A Word From The Pastor Archives 2025
March 2025
 

"How great is Your goodness, Which You have stored up for those who fear You, Which You have wrought for those who take refuge in You,"  Psalm 31:19

When life is pleasant, we find praising God easy because His kindness is evident.  But recognizing hardship as an expression of His care is hard.  In difficult times, we need to remind ourselves of today's passage, which tells us the Lord has stored up goodness for those who trust and obey Him.  If you feel He's benevolent only when circumstances are to your liking, then you misunderstand His nature.  Those who know His character are able to see evidence of His goodness in all situations.

It is certain that it is challenging to always understand this truth.  In the midst of life's challenges it is really hard to see God's goodness and how He is working.  So when you find yourself in those difficult places, take time to seek God's perspective and listen.  And while you wait, choose to be grateful and trust in God's character.  When circumstances and feelings try to get you down, rely on who God is and what you know about Him.  And throughout the day, look for signs of His loving care.  As your perspective changes, then no matter which way you turn, you'll be able to see confirmations that, yes, God is good.

Adapted from:  https://www.intouchuk.org/read/daily-devotions/experiencing-god-s-goodness

"Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them..."  Joshua 1:1

Joshua had been called and appointed to lead the nation of Israel into the Promised Land following the death of Moses.  Yahweh repeatedly told Joshua to be strengthened and encouraged - strength and encouragement that could only be found in God alone.  So Joshua had only to find his strength and courage in God.  Why? - because it was God who was going to do all the work.  Every step that Joshua took, every piece of land that he claimed, every battle that he won would be the direct result of God working for him; not in his strength.

The courage and strength that we draw upon is not from ourselves but from God.  And God promises to give us the strength and courage needed as we read, study, and apply His Word continually and (1:8) "meditate therein day and night, that we may observe to do according to all that is written therein:"  And what will be the result?  It is THEN, we will see how God will "make our way prosperous, and then have good success."  The more we meditate His Word, the better we can see God's hand in our circumstances and we can understand that He always has a better plan, which will always work out for the better.

Adapted from:  https://www.perfectinchrist.org/devotion-archive/12-11-19

"So when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, 'Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these?'  He said to Him, 'Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.'  He said to him, 'Feed My lambs'."  John 21:15

Have you ever messed up?  Especially with God, have you ever done something that almost made you ashamed to call yourself a Christian?  Have you ever felt like Peter?  It is undeniable that Peter was an utter failure!  He denied the Lord three times in Jesus greatest hour of need, at the trial before His crucifixion.  Right after the third denial, Peter looked up and saw Jesus staring right at him.  He was crushed, devastated, destroyed.  Surely we cannot be too hard on Peter, how would you have responded in those tense moments?

Then, the resurrection happens.  At first, Peter has incredible joy.  But then reality set in. "How could Jesus forgive me?" he must have been thinking.  His response, "I'm going fishing."  Now, going fishing isn't a big deal, but for Peter, what it represents is a big deal.  Remember, Peter was a fisherman, and Jesus called Peter to follow Him and become a fisher of men.

Peter lost his way and we too sometimes lose our way, but thankfully Jesus met Peter in his lostness and in the process of restoration, experienced forgiveness and a recommission of his call to be a fisher of men.

What has God called you to?  Are you using your gifts and talents to advance the kingdom of God?  Yes, you'll fail, just like Peter.  But the cross and the resurrection and God's grace make all the difference.  Forgiveness and renewal are always waiting at the feet of Jesus.  So when you do mess up, run to Him, not away.  You will find Jesus there, waiting to bring you back, set you on your feet, and get you living for Him again.  Remember, with Christ, every day is a new beginning.

Adapted from:  https://blog.genesiseureka.om/2008/04/01/devotion-john-21

"And be renewed in the spirit of your mind:... put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness."  Ephesians 4:23-24
(A devotion from A.W. Tozer, "Evenings with Tozer" - June 1)

God is faithful--He is never going to be done with us in shaping us and fashioning us as dear children of God until the day that we will see Him face-to-face.

Truly, in that gracious day, our rejoicing will not be in the personal knowledge that He saved us from hell, but in the joyful knowledge that He was able to renew us, bringing the old self to an end, and creating within us the new man and the new self in which can be reproduced the beauty of the Son of God!

In the light of that provision, I think it is true that no Christian is where he ought to be spiritually until that beauty of the Lord Jesus Christ is being reproduced in daily Christian life.  I admit that there is necessarily a question of degree in this kind of transformation of life and character.

Certainly there has never been a time in our human existence when we could look into our own being, and say: "Well, thank God, I see it is finished now.  The Lord has signed the portrait.  I see Jesus in myself!  Nobody will say that--nobody!"

But until then, let us keep being renewed in the spirit of our minds, putting on the new man.

"But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.'  Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me."  2 Corinthians 12:9

Grace is a gift most of us do not know how to receive.  We have been so inundated with the earthly systems of give-and-get and work-and-earn that grace is a concept few ever fully grasp.  Yet it's grace alone that has the power to transform lives.  Grace alone has the power to bring freedom to the captives.  By God's grace alone we are saved.

In His grace, all He asks of us is to have a heart open, willing and receptive to Him.  Our God is one who comes down to us and lays down His life that we might live through Him.  We serve a God whose grace is wholly sufficient for us.  In fact, it's only in living by His grace that we are made strong.  Our heavenly Father says, "My power is made perfect in weakness."  Let His grace be your sufficiency in the midst of your daily need.