Paul's journey to Rome, detailed in Acts 27, serves as a powerful illustration of trusting God amidst overwhelming circumstances. Despite Paul's warning about the dangers of continuing their voyage, the ship's crew prioritized favorable winds and the desire for a better winter harbor, leading to a devastating storm. In the midst of this crisis, when all hope seemed lost, Paul, grounded in his identity as belonging to God and serving Him, received a divine promise of safety for all aboard. The sermon emphasizes that true Christian living involves unwavering faith in God's promises, even when circumstances are dire, and acting upon that faith, as demonstrated by Paul's calm demeanor and his act of eating during the storm, which inspired hope in others. Ultimately, the message calls believers to a perfect trust in God, recognizing that His will is best, even when it involves hardship, and to believe His word in every aspect of life.
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Twenty-seventh chapter of Acts. Here we have the account of how the Apostle Paul was being sent to Rome, a prisoner. And he was in this ship that was going toward Rome. And I think we'll read from the eighth verse or the seventh verse, Acts twenty-seven seven. When we had sailed slowly many days and scarce were come over against Nidus, the wind not suffering us, we sailed under Crete over against Salmon, and hardly passing it came to a place which is called the Fair Haven.
Nigh whereunto was the city of La Silla. Now when much time was spent and when sailing was now dangerous, because the fast was now already fast, Paul admonished them and said, Sir, I perceive that this voyage will be with hurt and much damage, not only of the lading and ship, but also of our lives. Paul warned them that there would be trouble if they continued their voyage at that time of year. Nevertheless, the Centurion believed that Master, and the Centurion was the officer in charge of the hundred soldiers, that is normally his position. the owner of the ship, more than those things which were spoken by Paul.
And because the winter was not commodious to winter in, the more part advised to depart, thence also, if by any means they might attain to Phenice, and there to winter, which is an haven of Crete, and lieth toward the southwest and northwest. They wanted to go on. They didn't want to stay in this little harbor. It wasn't a very interesting place for the sailors. and not much excitement ashore, and they thought, well, if we could only get on to the next place, to Seneci, there we would be able to find a larger harbor and more things to do, an more interesting place to spend the winter and the time of bad sailing.
Paul had warned them, but they disregarded his warning. It was majority against reason, and they just waited. They just had such a great desire to go on that when the Thirteenth Verse came along, the south wind blew softly, supposing they had attained their purpose, loosing thence they sailed close by Crete. Now there's a great danger in life of letting the south wind be that which guide even the Christian. When circumstances seem favorable, sometimes without even consulting the Lord, we go ahead.
And south winds can be dangerous because they can be the prelude to something much worse. And one should have better guidance than circumstances in our Christian life. And so in verse thirteen they felt this south wind blowing softly and they thought, this is fine, this wind will blow our sailing ship right along there to Phoenici and we'll be able to go there, spend the winter there. But not long after there arose against it a tempestuous wind called Eurokliden. After the south wind, a tempestuous, and this oftentimes happens in life, and when we trust the south winds we better be on the lookout for the tempestuous wind that can follow.
The wind was caught and could not bear up to the wind, and so they let her dry. They came near a certain island, Claude. And they started undergirding the ship to support it, and they were driven. In the eighteenth verse they were exceedingly tossed with a tempest, a great storm. And the next day they started throwing things out to make the ship lighter, throwing out some of the cargo. The third day we cast with our own hands the tackling of the ship, the different parts of the tackling of the ship. That is the... such things as the ropes and the different parts that were necessary for the operating of the ship, the sailboat.
Verse twenty. And when neither sun nor stars in many days appeared, and no small tempest lay on us, all hope that we should be saved was then taken away. The situation is hopeless. There's nothing we can do. We'll never be saved under these circumstances. The storm, a little ship, with all these people aboard, bobbing about on the waves and the wind blowing, and they, throwing away even those things that would normally be helpful to them in navigation, thrown aside, and they give up all hope. Hopeless situation. And I've heard, as we've traveled around the country this year, I've heard a lot of hopeless remarks.
People think that the USA is really rapidly going to the dogs, as they say. Well, I admit that there are many, many things. We're in the midst of a tremendous tempest, and the circumstances all about us are terrible. Certainly, there is a degeneration morally and a degeneration spiritually throughout the country that gives real alarm to God's people. We might liken it somewhat to this ship there on the ocean. Our radars was on the Mediterranean Sea. There they were. tossed about by the storm. But notice, in the midst of the storm, there was a man of prayer, a man who believed God.
And it's on him we would like to focus your attention for a few minutes tonight. After long silence, which perhaps is a better translation, Paul stood forth in the midst of him and said, I told you so. Sirs, you should have arcaned unto me and not have loosed from Crete and to have gained this harm and loss. And now I exhort you to be of good cheer. How can you be of good cheer in a storm? And you're probably sick as well. How can you be of good cheer? Be of good cheer. There shall be no loss of any man's life among you, but of the ship. Here is a man who was in touch with God.
In the midst of the storm, in the midst of all the hopeless predicament in which they found themselves, here was a man in touch with God. And there was a promise right from the throne of God. And he tells about it in verse twenty-three. There stood by me this night, the angel of God. The angel of God. It's a wonderful thing to be in the presence of the Lord, to be in fellowship with the Lord of heaven, so that the Lord can communicate with us. Is this possible in our day? It is possible to know guidance from the Lord. We out on the mission field, particularly in those days of great danger, when our lives and the lives of many of our colleagues were threatened by the rebels, we came to know what it was to be in close touch with the Lord and to feel a certainty in connection with the Lord's guidance, so that now as we look back and with wonder that decisions were made almost in split seconds, that involved the life and safety of missionaries to look back and see how wonderfully the Lord worked it all out and it all pitted together in such a wonderful way.
It's a wonderful thing to be in touch with the Lord day by day. Of course, if there's sin in our lives, unconfessed, unacknowledged, unrepented, sin unrepented of, of course, we can't expect to know that intimacy and that fellowship with the Lord. But oh the joy of being in his presence day by day, of communing with him, and of feeling the sense of guidance that comes from his throat. Now Paul in the twenty-third verse said there stood by me this night the angel of God. God, whose I am and whom I serve. Isn't that wonderful? I wonder if you can say that. God, whose I am and whom I serve.
He's my God. and I'm in His service. I belong to Him. I'm not my own. I've been bought with a price, the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. This body is not mine. This life is not mine. I belong to Christ. I'm in service, whom I serve. I'll never forget a letterhead I saw years ago. It was a letterhead that was used by the China In the Mission. at a time when China was still open for the gospel. And on this letterhead, there was a picture of an ox. An ox, of course, is the symbol for service.
Here was the ox in the center. And on one side there was a prow. And on the other side there was an altar. And underneath there was a caption which read, Ready for Eater. The ox, the servant of the Lord. ready for the plow, ready to be harnessed to the plow and to work day after day, year after year, perhaps at the same time for him, if this is his appointed way. Or it might be to lay down one's life for him on the altar, if that's what the Lord desires. The ox is ready for either, recognizing that We belong to the Lord Jesus Christ.
He is our Savior. He's died for it. He purchases with His own precious blood. We're not our own. We're His. Whose I am, Paul could say, and whom I serve. This may be redundant to many of you. You may have said this many times. Many of you preached on this. I wonder if we can use that in our thinking. If we could take that home in our hearts. Perhaps some of the younger people who don't know that. You can say, I don't belong to myself now. I belong to the Lord Jesus. He brought me with his precious blood. We've been redeemed not with corruptible things such as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, as on a lamb without blemish and without thought.
And this life of mine is not mine to do with as I desire. This life is his life given to me, and I live my life because of Christ living in me. And my objective in life is to reflect the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, that men might observe in me, they might behold in me, in my mortal flesh the person of the indwelling Christ. Whose I am and whom I serve. Paul was in touch with God. And in verse twenty-four, The angel of God said, Fear not, Paul, thou must be brought before Caesar, and lo, God hath given thee all them that sail with thee.
That means that they were all going to be saved. All these who are sailing in the moon. Some even say that we can put a spiritual significance to that, and they were all going to be saved spiritually as well. Perhaps so. At any rate, there was a promise right from the throne of God. Now, what would Paul think about that? This promise was given while the storm was still raging and the boat was still tossing. And we today are in a USA that is in turmoil and in chaos and in trouble and in danger. And there are influences on all sides that would distress us. But we're in touch with the Lord.
And after all, we don't belong to ourselves. We belong to Him and we serve Him. And we'll just believe it. Paul said, Sir, be of good cheer, for I believe God, I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told. There are three little expressions there. Whom I am, whom I serve, I believe God. We're going back in relatively few days now. We're going back to Africa, and this is the attitude we're having as we're going back. No one knows what the future has in these lands. People sometimes ask me, now, Bill, do you really think it's safe back there in Africa?
Can you guarantee that these new missionaries that are going to be going out there, that they're going to be safe out there? Who can guarantee anything in any land in all of this world? We belong to the Lord. We serve Him, and we believe Him, and we trust Him, and we go forth in His name. I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me. And then he went on to say, we must be cast on a certain island. And so they went along in the boat in the twenty-eighth verse. They started sounding, putting down the measure to find out how deep it was. They found it was a hundred and twenty feet. And they went a little bit further, and they found it was ninety feet. And then they thought, well, we're getting close to rapid now.
We better throw the anchors out and throw out the anchors, attached to the ship, and wish for the day. And in verse thirty there were some mariners there. Some of the sailors, they thought, Well, this boat is doomed. Never mind that man, Paul. Let's just slip away here. And they let down the rowboat. And they said, If anyone would ask about them, they would just say, Well, we're going to put the anchor out on the other side. And so the shipmen were about to flee out of the ship. They had let down the boat into the sea under color, so they would have cast anchors out of the four ships. Paul said to the centurion, Except these abide in the ship. You cannot be saved. They've got to take it the same as the rest of it.
They've got to stay right here. God said, we're all going to be saved. We're going to be cast on a certain island, but we're all going to be saved. And so the soldiers cut off the ropes and let the rowboat fall into the water. That took care of those sailors. And when the day was coming on, Paul besought them all to take meat. Meat, I suppose we'd better just say, food would be a better translation, saying, this day is the fourteenth day. Here's two weeks. And we've carried, and we've not been eating. It was taken nothing. Therefore I pray you to take some meat. For this is for your health. For there shall not a hair fall from the head of Inga. I believe God. Paul believed God even in the minutiae. He knew that they were going to be saved.
And he believed God. And so he told him now, let's just eat now. Because God's going to save. But the storm was still there. It was still raging. And the boat was still tossing. And you would think that they would practically look at Paul as though you were mad. How do you mean, Paul, that we're going to be saying, eat in all this storm. And then Paul did something that was very, very wise. And when he had thus spoken, he took bread and gave thanks to God in the presence of them all. And when he had broken, he started to eat. He acted on his faith in front of them all. And what a terrific testimony that was before them all. And then they were all of good cheer. He reminds me a little bit of Hannah.
You remember how Hannah went there into the temple and Eli was there. And she was concerned because she had no child. And she prayed to the Lord and she was very deaf in her prayer. And she didn't pray for a child. She prayed for a man child. And the Lord didn't send her a daughter. And as she went there, she had the assurance that the Lord was going to hear her prayer. And so the woman went her way and did eat. And her countenance was no more that. Now, it's one thing to say we believe God, and it's something else to act just so we believe God and live our lives. And so we fear God in every detail of our lives, walking humbly before him, in fellowship with him, trusting him, and believing his word.
All this word of God, he's given it to us. Do we believe it? Do we walk according to it? I believe God. I belong to him. I'm serving him. And I believe him. Despite all this storm around, we know that he has a plan that he's working out. And I believe his word. And I'm going to be cheerful. I'm not going to be downhearted or discouraged. Despite all the pessimism I hear all around me, I am going to be encouraged in the Lord. And I'm going to go right along in a happy way, waiting until the Lord Jesus comes to take me home. And so he ate in front of them all. And they were all of good cheer, and they all started eating, too. They all took some meat. There were two hundred and seventy-six of them, and when they had eaten enough, well, the story goes on.
They started throwing the wheat out into the sea, and then afterwards they ran the ship into a certain creek there, and it started breaking to pieces, and the soldiers said, let's kill the prisoners first. But the centurion, one of you that saved Paul, didn't let them do that, and said that they should all try to swim, or else go on boards and broken pieces of ships. And so it came to pass that they escaped all safe to life. This is a lovely story. And it's a story that encourages our hearts in the days of turmoil and storm in our country. We can thank God that he's on the throne, and his word is sure.
and we would acknowledge that we belong to him and we trust him and we're going forth believing in what he has said. Now, Abraham one time was asked to go forth, you remember. He was there in the lush valley of the Euphrates where they had everything. A lush valley with all sorts of vegetables and fruits and all these things and a wisdom that was advanced much beyond the day and the Lord... called him out and told him to go forth, and he went forth. He believed God, and he went out not knowing whether he went. He went out by faith. He left the lush Euphrates Valley, and he went right out into the barren desert, trusting the Lord.
The Lord's command, for a joy it is, to be obedient to them. He obeyed God, and he went out, and the Lord made him the father of many nations, and deceived him. particularly his spiritual seed, as the father of the faithful, his seed is just like the sand of the seashore, can't be numbered. Abraham believed God, and he went out not knowing whether he went. Now, Dr. Harlow spoke about how long we've been on the mission field. I would like just to say that it will be, actually, forty years just next month, that we went out to the mission field. My father, mother, and two younger children, and I. I met my wife on the mission field.
She had one year's service already by the time we got there. And I remember when I was down in Los Angeles and God called me there, and he had put the exercise on my father's heart many years before through many circumstances that are too lengthy to narrate here. But the time came when it became certain that we should go out as a family trusting the Lord. And I can just say that we went out believing the Lord. And we didn't go out with any guarantees from anyone. My father cashed in his insurances and sold the equity of the home, and I put in what little I can contribute as a boy, a young man of twenty-one.
And we put all these things together, and my mother had some coins. We had coins that she carried. somewhere hidden about her person. She said she used to call that little thing that my gizzard. She used to have her gizzard there, and she brought that out, and we had to reach out and get something and meet the need along the way. And we got to New York, and we were going to Africa, and we knew very little about Africa. Two and a half years ago, Kevin Dyer had asked me to speak on the subject of the World Missions Congress about field awareness. And I gave the paper on field awareness and talked about Abraham talked about the wisdom of getting to know all about a field before you go to it.
Get to know the people, correspond, detail the different things in connection with a field. But although the paper was nice and people said that they thought it was good advice, I couldn't help in my own heart apart comparing it with the way we went out with such little knowledge in those days. We had never heard of bank drafts or travelers' checks or those even existed in At any rate, in that particular year, people were concerned about the crash that was coming or had come by then. But what we did, we got to London, and all the money we had we changed into golden sovereigns. These are five dollar, they were at that time equivalent, about five dollar gold pieces.
And we had these in a bag. All that we possessed in the world, we had in a bag, golden sovereign. We got down to Nairobi. And we went into the bank there, the Standard Bank of South Africa Limited. And the man, we said, we'd like to open an account. We figured that was the closest place to Central Africa, and it was at that time. And he said, well, what would you like to put in as a first deposit? And my father dumped out these golden sovereigns on the counter, and the man had never seen anything like that in all his life. He was golden sovereign. Of course, he opened an account for us very rapidly, but that isn't as good a way to travel as American Express checks, I'm sure. But that was the only way we knew. But I can tell you in those days we went out trusting the law.
And I can just tell you that our trust in him has not been in vain. He has worked most abundantly and far beyond anything that we could ask or think. And I can just encourage all of us to put our trust in the living God. This affects our own lives, and it affects the lives of others. I have quite a list of things that I could tell you about some of the experiences we've had through the years in trusting the Lord. The Lord has been so gracious in caring for us and providing for us in an expanding work. Other workers have joined in the work throughout the years, and the Lord has richly given spiritual blessing in the work.
But we still go back the same way, trusting the Lord, without the guarantee of man, but just trusting the Lord. But we have a host of Christian friends who are behind us and praying for us, and we praise God for them because they're believing God, too, on our behalf. And it's in that spirit that we go forth. Trusting God in the store. Adventures in Believing God. You could title these remarks several different ways. In a time of rebellion, when drunken soldiers come to your house in the middle of the night with armed guns and insist on your opening the door, and you open the door, the other missionaries are across over in Uganda, you, Bain and I were there at Nyingkundi alone, and they insist that we open the door, else they'll break it down or they'll shoot it down.
These are local soldiers, not the rebels. The rebels hadn't come in at that time. This was in the first part of the Congo independence. And so we opened the door, and there they are with their loaded rifle. What did you want? They're surprised that there they are face-to-face with the one they thought would never open the door. And you said, did you want something? Yes, Father. Would you let us have five francs so we can go and get something to eat? I'm trying to say, you are going to find something to me. Thank you very much, Farah. And off they go, the rebel soldier. Another time coming along after an inspection just at that time, an inspection of the school at Lowa with the teacher from Nyan Kundi.
Coming back in the car, a jeep comes along, and the men in the jeep put up their hands, five tough Congolese soldiers from another part of the country to whom we're utterly unknown. And we put our brakes on, but not sufficiently... quickly to satisfy them and they come out with their eyes just blaring, just glaring at us and their hatred in their faces. Their guns pointed at us. Have you ever had five automatics pointed at you at one time? I tell you, it gives you an opportunity to believe God and be quiet in a sense. He's had many experiences of that kind.
I remember on this occasion, as we came together, this African who was trembling at my side, as I talked to them to their surprise in Lingala, which is the language of the soldiers. And they didn't expect to have anyone there in that area speaking Lingala, because that's the soldiers' language. But of course, I had been a chaplain in the army during the war, and Lingala was one of the things we had acquired. And so I talked to them in the language of their area, Lingala. And that already gave them pause, and... And then they toned down a little bit and asked who I was, and I pointed to that hill over there. You see that hill over there? Well, that's Nyankundi. I've been there for these years telling your own people, your Congolese, how they can get to heaven, and then they're interested in finding out how they can get to heaven.
And before long, their pistols are down, and when they tell me to go on their way, they're dopping their hats and giving their greetings and their peace as we go on our way. time after time after time. The Lord has undertaken for us in times of tremendous danger. He's given His calm, His peace in trusting Him. Not a calm that we would say would be naturally ours, but in the time of danger, in the time of difficulty, the Lord gives grace at that time as we trust Him. I believe God. it shall be done, even as it was told.
If we could believe God's word. But you know, I'm afraid that we ourselves limit the Lord by a lack of belief. Paul said, I believe God, that it shall be done, even as it was told. And I'd like to read in the sixth chapter of Mark, if I may, of the dangers of not believing God. And the fact that We miss blessing in failing to do so in our own lives and to others. Mark chapter six. Jesus is at Nazareth here. The Lord Jesus is at Nazareth. And they question his teaching, wondering where he has this wisdom and so on.
And they say, verse three, is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James and Joseph and Judah and Simon? Are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at it. But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honor, but in his own country and among his own kin, and in his own house. And he could not there, he could there do no mighty work. He could there do no mighty work, save that he laid his hands on a few sick folk and healed them. And he marveled because of their unbelief. Couldn't do it there because of their unbelief. Matthew thirteen. The same story, our further thought in this connection. the last verse of the thirteenth of Matthew.
And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief. They hindered the Lord. The Lord's hands were tied by the unbelief of those people in Nazareth, and he couldn't do the work that he would well have desired to do because of their unbelief. And I wonder if perhaps We're missing blessing because of unbelief. The Israelites entered not in because of unbelief. And I think that sometimes we are being shut out from much blessing that the Lord longs to give us because we're not living lives of trusting the Lord, believing in him.
I'd like to read now in Psalm seventy-eight. Psalm seventy-eight. I can't go into much detail as to this, but in the Seventy-eighth Psalm, the Psalmist is telling about what the Lord has done for the people of Israel. And verse twelve, marvelous things did he. And it goes on to tell what he did. Verse sixteen, he brought streams out of the rock, caused rivers to run down, water to run in God, and trusted not in his salvation.
Verse thirty-two, for all this they sin still and believed not. Now verse forty-one, yea, they turned back and tempted God and limited the Holy One of Israel. Can it be in the assemblies of God's people, in our own individual lives, we are failing to enter into that great blessing the Lord longs to give us, because our lives are not lived. in his fear and in his trust, believing him day by day that he will do even as he has said. Can God? Of course he can.
The king, as he ran to the den where Daniel was put in with a lion, he asked, Is thy God able to deliver? Oh, he's abundantly able. Able also to save to the othermost, them that come unto God by Him. Able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think. And able to deliver Daniel and to deliver Maraca too. You know Maraca? She's Yossi Abuzzo's wife. And you know, when Yossi Abuzzo was told by the rebels that in three days, two days they would come back and kill him.
The third day they would kill him because he had let the missionaries get away and they wanted to kill the missionaries. The rebel said, we'll be back in the day after tomorrow, and we'll kill you. And though he was sitting at his desk the day they came, the first day the two men who said that they were going to come back and kill him were brought in very grievously wounded, and they died in our hospital there. But others had taken up the strain. Let's get you a siobutzo because they let the missionaries get away. And so they came, and he sat at his desk. in his office all day long. He tells me he went there to work and he stayed to pray. And he prayed all day long. And the rebels came and they asked everyone, Where is Yosea Buzo? I'm not saying just what they did or how they managed it, but I think they pointed in all sorts of directions.
They certainly didn't tell the Simbas that he was there at his desk, but they didn't find him all day long and they looked for him all around Nyan Kun. But that night the elders came to him and said, Yosea, we're going to need you after this. You better go. And so because of that he left his wife and their thirteen children and he walked twelve days overland to Uganda and joined us there in Kampala. And then they took his son as a hostage. They said, all right, we didn't get the father. We'll hold the son. And if the father doesn't give himself up, we'll kill the son. And so they took Rahama and made him a hostage and they put him in prison. And they took him out in front of the firing squad and they shot at him. Not at him personally, but they shot right beside him because at the firing squad there were eight people there and seven of those people were killed and Rahama was left alone standing.
And they said, this time we're going to let you go. But if your father doesn't give himself up, you're going to be killed the next time, hoping that the father would get this news and give himself up because they weren't interested in the sun. They wanted Yosea. But Yosea was on his way to Uganda. And so they brought Rahama out a second time, the same thing. They shot the others and left him standing. The third time they shot the others and left him standing, but the third time the boy's mind just snapped and he lost his reason. And then Maratha came, the mother. Maratha means Martha. And she came and said to the rebel chief, Now my boy has lost his mind. Let him go and shoot me instead. And the rebel chief said, Well, I'll put you in the barracks for the night and we'll talk it over in the morning.
And he put her in the barracks with... over a hundred rebel soldiers. You know, they call themselves Simba, which means lions. And so he put Maratha right there among the Simba. And as she tells the story, she says, Daniel was in the lion's den, and he prayed to God, and the Lord delivered him. And I was put into the lion's den among the Simbas, and I prayed to God, and he did the miracle for me. Not one of those rough Simba soldiers, Lady Spinger of Maratha. They slept all through the night with this virtuous woman there in their midst, this mother of thirteen children, attractive woman. And in the morning she was called before the rebel chief and he said, You're a woman of great courage.
You can go and your son can go as well. And they were both released. Ah, yes. I feel that sometimes we need to give some serious thought about this before the Lord, because perhaps we miss much of the blessing the Lord would have for us, because we don't believe Him, and we don't believe His Word, perhaps in a theoretical way, but I mean in that daily, trusting Him day by day. Not only the adults, you young people too, and you children too, believe the Lord. You believed in Him for salvation when you trusted Him, if you trusted Him as your Savior. Believe in Him every day because He's the same God and He's able to hear and to answer prayer.
Now one more portion, and this is in the ninth chapter of Mark. Mark chapter nine. The story in Mark nine, after the Transfiguration story, concerned a man who brought his son, who had a dumb spirit. That is, he was unable to speak because of an evil spirit. And verse twenty he brought him to the Lord, and when he saw him, straight with the spirit, carry him, and he fell to the ground, wallowed and wallowed, foaming.
And he asked the father, how long is it ago since this came unto him, and he said, Of a child? And oftentimes it has cast him into the fire and into the waters to destroy him. But if thou canst do anything, have compassion on us and help us. What a prayer of a man to ask to the Lord. If thou canst do anything, can the Lord, do we question the Lord's ability to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think? If thou canst do anything, have compassion on us and help us. Jesus said unto him, If thou can't believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.
What is there in your own heart and life, in your own family, in those ambitions and things that you have? What is there that you would like to bring to the Lord that he might undertake, that he might help you in? It's not, can the Lord do it? It's, can you believe that he can do it? Can you trust him? If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believe. I believe God that it shall be done, even as it was told. All things are possible to him that believe. And straightway the father of the child cried out and said, With tears, Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief.
And I think most of us can. use that expression as we speak to the Lord, and we're thinking about trusting Him and believing Him in all the exigencies of the present life, in all the difficulties, in the problems of the way, in the problems of our schools, in the problems of our offices, in the problems of our homes, in the problems of our children. Let's believe God. Let's believe His Word. Let's adhere to His Word and trust Him. He's able to do that which is a miracle from heaven itself. Let us trust him. I'd like to, I was going to say, quote, I better say, read. My mother's favorite poem, it used to be on the wall in the kitchen when we were growing up.
I remember the text, it was a purple, a dark purple background, and it had silver writing. And this is what it says. Oh, for the peace of a perfect trust, my loving God in thee, unwavering faith that never doubts thou choosest best for me, best though my plans are all upset, best though the way be rough, best though my earthly store be scant, in thee I have enough, best though my health and strength be gone and weary days be mine, shut up out from much that others have, not my will, Lord, but thine. And even though disappointments come, they too are best for me to wean me from this changing world and lead me nearer thee.
Oh, for the peace of a perfect trust that looks away from all, that sees thy hand in everything, in great events or small, that hears thy voice, a father's voice, directing for the best. Oh, for the peace of a perfect trust, a heart with thee at rest. Lord, I believe, help thou. Mine understood.