Singing in the Shelter

The greater our present trials and troubles, the louder our future songs of praise will be. – Charles H. Spurgeon

The Psalms, Mary's 'Magnificat'. When you remember the sufferings of people like Moses, David, and even Mary - it gives greater meaning to their songs of praise. AMEN!

Life is exact in its dealings with us. It plays no favorites. From time to time all of us must face discouragement and defeat. Winter, spring, summer or fall, the season nor our age gets us a pass. And sometimes, we experience life-changing personal losses that may leave us reeling. It is what we do in those moments that determine who we are and whose we are. The same God we praise is ready to be called upon when we are in trouble, waiting, standing at the ready to heal, restore, protect and comfort us according to His good pleasure and will. So if our world seems to be trembling or crumbling beneath our feet, we need to seek the protection of the One who can’t be moved. The God who made this universe and everything in it will keep us if we ask Him….so let’s ask Him. We’ve got nothing to lose and stand to gain everything, and if we actually think about it, what He’s already done, we should sing until we’re hoarse.

Until tomorrow…

Pastor Botts

“….this is what the Lord….says…I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will heal you….” – II Kings 20:5

Curiously Defined

Curiosity in children is but an appetite for knowledge, and we are ALWAYS God’s children. - Anon

The heavens 'declaring God's glory' is a hard vision to imagine but it's no less true. WOW!

Awesome! Mighty! Magnificent! These words summon up some colossal thoughts and ideas in our minds, particularly when we try to apply them to our Great God and measure His vast nature. But in truth they are only our definitions to help us and our curious minds. God's nature and character go beyond any description we can come up with. He transcends all of life and its beauty because He Himself created it. And though we can have some vivid imaginations the scriptures tell us He is also able "to do more than we can imagine." If the highest heavens can't contain Him what makes us think we can truly define Him. We should just bask in the truth. He is both Great and Good all the time, and we should seek to know Him in a new and different way today. Now that's a thought worth pondering.

I will be away for a few days so this keyboard will be silent. Until then....

Pastor Botts

".....no eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him...." - I Corinthians 2:9

Where True Faith Rests

Faith is believing in things when common sense tells you not to. - G. Seaton

Even in the midst of being tossed into a fiery furnace with the thought of God not sparing them, the 3 Hebrew boys couldn't denounce the God they served and loved. You know the ending!

Without doubt, God is still in the miracle working business, but His primary desire is for relationship with His people. There are times when we seem to prefer the miracle over the miracle worker. There are times we get so carried away with our deliverance, or the revelation we've received, we forget the very God who's responsible. Miracles are only manifested to bring God glory. If we need them to sustain our faith or to prove God real, then our faith is in vain. True faith rests in the God of miracles, not the miracles themselves. God truly wants to be known and loved for who HE IS to us, not so much what He does for us.

Until Monday...

Pastor Botts

"Then Jesus told him, 'because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." - John 20:29

Confused? This Is What to Do

A boggled mind needs a bended knee. – Charles Swindoll

Not really knowing what to do after his crucifixion, the apostles thought prayer might help. Boy did it ever. AMEN!

No doubt about it, this world we live in has some awe inspiring, breathtaking wonders. Look at any scenic calendar, natural wildlife, even the birth of a new child and you know it. But it also has some conundrums and seemingly illogical aspects and life issues that utterly frustrate and confuse us. In either case it is mind boggling. But that is one of the great secrets of prayer and praise. Whether it be wonder and amazement at His vast creation, or puzzlement and confusion from the issues of life; God is always open to hear our response and/or questions. We can never praise Him too much nor call on Him too often. He has so designed life that there really is no way we can ignore His existence, and when we think about it there really is no reason we should want to. May He hear from us all today!

Until tomorrow…

Pastor Botts

“For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – His eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.” – Romans 1:20

Because He Said So

We must constantly remind ourselves that HE is God, and we are not. - Anon

Abram had no idea where he was going when he left his home in Haran, but he trusted God knew the directions. Amen!

"Because I said so!" It was an answer to our many questions that our parents gave to us as kids seemingly over and over again in our younger growing up years. And it was one we readily accepted without question or skepticism. Did it explain what we were asking - NO! Did it give us further insight into what we were seeking - NO! But it did satisfy our curiosity at that time because we fully trusted in the one giving us the answer. That's the faith God looks for in us today. Even when we ask and don't get an answer, or get an answer we don't understand, will we continue to trust in the ONE who is Sovereign over us? All that He has shown and given us in the past should be our foundation to trust Him in the present situation and with our future.

Until tomorrow...

Pastor Botts

"Blessed are those who have not seen but yet believe." - John 20:29

At Just the Right Time

Hell is truth seen too late. – T. Hobbes

God has always loved us and been for us and at "just the right time" sent His Son to prove it. Hmm!

TIMING – we all know it’s critical. A second too soon or too late could spell disaster. But when it comes to God we often don’t relate Him to the here and now. We often relate to Him in terms of what He’s done in the past for us, or how we’re asking Him to help us defeat this gigantic problem we’re up against. But He is the God of the here and now – time exists solely because of Him alone – and He’s ever present in every second. Often we spend time ‘waiting’ on God to move or act and fail to realize we can still enjoy Him in the process. One does not preclude the other. He’s an ever-present God. So as the song says ‘Don’t Wait Til’ Midnite’, CALL NOW! And I can guarantee the time will be that much better.

Until tomorrow…

Pastor Botts

“He has made everything beautiful in its time….” – Ecclesiastes 3:11

Abundantly Supplied

Gratitude is a great attitude! - Anon

The Israelites had to gather manna everyday to survive. Hmm!

The half-empty pizza box! The half-full bucket of chicken! The turkey platter in the fridge covered with foil! We call these leftovers. The word itself kind of sounds like a back-handed compliment – leftovers! But really, they are great testimonies to God’s goodness to us. That He ‘abundantly’ supplies for our needs. We sometimes need to remind ourselves of this, particularly in this festive holiday season. And not only that, but there is also another blessing as well. The time to reheat and eat is nowhere near the time and labor we used to gather and prepare it. God is good all the time.

Until tomorrow…

Pastor Botts

“….I have NEVER seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread.” – Psalm 37:25

Future Praise

The greater our present trials and troubles, the louder our future songs of praise will be. – C.H. Spurgeon

The Psalms, Mary's 'Magnificat'. When you remember the sufferings of people like Moses, David, and even Mary - it gives greater meaning to their songs of praise. AMEN!

Life is exact in its dealings with us. It plays no favorites. From time to time all of us must face discouragement and defeat. Winter, spring, summer or fall, the season nor our age gets us a pass. And sometimes, we experience life-changing personal losses that may leave us reeling. It is what we do in those moments that determine who we are and whose we are. The same God we praise is ready to be called upon when we are in trouble, waiting, standing at the ready to heal, restore, protect and comfort us according to His good pleasure and will. So if our world seems to be trembling or crumbling beneath our feet, we need to seek the protection of the one who can’t be moved. The God who made this universe and everything in it will keep us if we ask Him….so let’s ask Him. We’ve got nothing to lose and stand to gain everything, and if we actually think about it, what He’s already done, we should sing until we’re hoarse.

Until Monday…

Pastor Botts

“….this is what the Lord….says…I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will heal you….” – II Kings 20:5

Beyond Common Sense

Faith is believing in things when common sense tells you not to. - G. Seaton

Even in the midst of being tossed into a fiery furnace with the thought of God not sparing them, the 3 Hebrew boys couldn't denounce the God they served and loved. You know the ending!

Without doubt, God is still in the miracle working business, but His primary desire is for relationship with His people. There are times when we seem to prefer the miracle over the miracle worker. There are times we get so carried away with our deliverance, or the revelation we've received, we forget the very God who's responsible. Miracles are only manifested to bring God glory. If we need them to sustain our faith or to prove God real, then our faith is in vain. True faith rests in the God of miracles, not the miracles themselves. God truly wants to be known and loved for who HE IS to us, not so much what He does for us.

Until tomorrow......

Pastor Botts

"Then Jesus told him, 'because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." - John 20:29

Open Our Eyes Lord

If all you see is what you see, you do not see all there is to be seen. - Tony Evans

God gave Elisha’s servant ‘spiritual’ eyes to show He was already on the move against the enemy. ..... Hmm!

God is often much closer than we think. He is also at work in many ways that pass right before our eyes that we miss. The answers to our many questions and healing for our hurts are not as far away as we sometimes think. Our difficulty comes when we look in the wrong place, or we are too fretful or anxiety ridden to see what is right there; and still other times when we just plain fail to see Him working because we cannot possibly believe God would be kind enough to care about us in such a small minute issue. We only need to open our eyes. Seeing eyes are eyes of faith, where we can see beyond the problem, see beyond our own unworthiness, and have confidence that He is the God of all grace and mercy. Knowing and trusting God is ever near means our seeds of hope are already present, we just need to water them through faithful obedience and perseverance. He will make the end results known.

Until tomorrow…

Pastor Botts

“Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law.” – Psalm 119:18

Child Like Wonder of the Indescribable

Curiosity in children is but an appetite for knowledge. - J. Locke

The heavens 'declaring God's glory' is a hard vision to imagine but it's no less true. WOW!

Awesome! Mighty! Magnificent! These words summon up some colossal thoughts and ideas in our minds, particularly when we try to apply them to our Great God and measure His vast nature. But in truth they are only our definitions to help us and our curious minds. God's nature and character go beyond any description we can come up with. He transcends all of life and its beauty because He Himself created it. And though we can have some vivid imaginations the scriptures tell us He is also able "to do more than we can imagine." If the highest heavens can't contain Him what makes us think we can truly define Him. We should just bask in the truth He is both Great and Good all the time, and seek to know Him in a new and different way today. Now that's a thought worth pondering.

Until tomorrow....

Pastor Botts

".....no eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him...." - I Corinthians 2:9

Sunglasses of Faith

Some things have to be believed to be seen. – A. Hodgson

Noah had never seen rain in his life, but that didn’t stop him from building the ark. It came in handy later on. WOW!

We readily “ooh” and “aah” and applaud thunderously at magicians with their sleight of hand, smoke and mirrors, and trick angle presentations to amuse us, though we know its trickery. But everyday God presents an incomparable array of natural beauty, windows of great opportunity, and unconditional love; yet He barely gets a raised eyebrow from most. We often miss it because of our self-centered focus. God does reward those who truly seek after Him, for it is only through the eyes of faith that we can actually see Him at work, and when we do it is a most beautiful sight. If we’ve been missing God, it’s not because He’s not there, it’s because we have too much glare (distractions) in our lives. Maybe we need to put on the sunglasses of faith to see a bit more clearly.

Until tomorrow…..

Pastor Botts

“By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice….Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death.” – Hebrews 11:17,19

P.S. - Hello Southside Family. Today is the National Day of Prayer. I'm asking, if you're able, for us to fast and pray until NOON today. Using Luke 18:1 as a guide pray that this world crisis will begin to turn our hearts back to God.

A Look At The Brighter Side

“I have never seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging for bread.” – Psalm 37:25

Paul said that whether he had plenty or none, as long as he had God he was content. AMEN!

As an avid coffee drinker I’ve hit a many donut shops in my time. Some good, some not so good. But I can recall a poem I once saw some years back that resonates with life:

As you travel through life friend,

Whatever be your goal,

Keep your eyes on the donut,

And not upon the hole.

It’s a somewhat simple message that’s meant to remind us that we should spend more time looking at and being thankful for what we have and not worrying about what we don’t have. God has gifted us with exactly everything He needs us to have at this moment. In fact, we’ve got more blessings than we can truly count, and maybe that’s what we should do, start counting and start thanking Him for every one of them. In the end it’s a lot more meaningful and a lot less costly, and we can all stand to save a little more anyway.

Until tomorrow…..

Pastor Botts

“…..My cup runs over. Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life…..” – Psalm 23:5

Though Times Don't Last

In times like these remember that we’ve always had times like these. – L. J. Harvey

The prophets of God (Jeremiah, Isaiah, Haggai, etc.) would often remind the people of God from whence they came, and WHO they belonged to. It was often reassuring. AMEN!

Rising gas prices! Rising food prices! Rising unemployment rates. Furloughs, etc! I could go on but I think you get the idea. When we stop to think about it, it seems there is a new obstacle or hardship popping up daily. Just as soon as we get one situation under control and in check another one rears its head. If we’re not careful we’re prone to becoming distressed and depressed. That’s why daily time with the Lord and His Word is so crucial. It reminds us of all the ‘tough times’ we’ve already come through by way of grace, and gives us hope that the current crisis is nothing to fear and will soon pass. Tough times never last - “weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning,” - is what the scriptures tell us. So no matter wherever you are at this point, remember God won’t leave you there.

Until tomorrow…..

Pastor Botts

“I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread.” – Psalm 37:25

Good Great God

Curiosity in children is but an appetite for knowledge. - J. Locke

The heavens 'declaring God's glory' is a hard vision to imagine but it's no less true. WOW!

Awesome! Mighty! Magnificent! These words summon up some colossal thoughts and ideas in our minds, particularly when we try to apply them to our Great God and measure His vast nature. But in truth they are only our definitions to help us and our curious minds. God's nature and character go beyond any description we can come up with. He transcends all of life and its beauty because He Himself created it. And though we can have some vivid imaginations the scriptures tell us He is also able "to do more than we can imagine." If the highest heavens can't contain Him what makes us think we can truly define Him. We should just bask in the truth He is both Great and Good all the time. Now that's a thought worth pondering.

Until tomorrow....

Pastor Botts

".....no eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him...." - I Corinthians 2:9

The miracle or the Miracle Worker

Faith is believing in things when common sense tells you not to. - G. Seaton

Even in the midst of being tossed into a fiery furnace with the thought of God not sparing them, the 3 Hebrew boys couldn't denounce the God they served and loved. You know the ending!

Without doubt, God is still in the miracle working business, but His primary desire is for relationship with His people. There are times when we seem to prefer the miracle over the miracle worker. There are times we get so carried away with our deliverance, or the revelation we've received, we forget the very God who's responsible. Miracles are only manifested to bring God glory. If we need them to sustain our faith or to prove God real, then our faith is in vain. True faith rests in the God of miracles, not the miracles themselves. God truly wants to be known and loved for who HE IS to us, not so much what He does for us.

Until tomorrow......

Pastor Botts

"Then Jesus told him, 'because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." - John 20:29

Don't miss em!

Too many people miss the ‘silver’ lining because they’re expecting gold. – M. Setter

Pilate and Herod stood face to face with Jesus and missed out on the opportunity because their minds were elsewhere. Wow!

Though things in our life may not be where we want them to be, the question is, are they where God wants them to be? Blessings and opportunity abound all around us but we miss them for we have already predetermined what should happen, what the expected end result should be. It’s often that way even in our prayer life, we give God a set of parameters to work with, and anything less is unacceptable. But in prayer it’s not so much how God answers, for we should be elated that He even hears us, and then when He answers we should jump for joy understanding that God’s answers are always better than we could and should expect. We truly deserve nothing from Him, but the fact that He answers time and again should endear us to Him more and more. A truly understanding person realizes they can get just as rich from a lot of silver as they can from a little gold.

Until tomorrow…..

Pastor Botts

“…I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread….” – Psalm 37:25

Eyes of Faith

Some things have to be believed to be seen. – A. Hodgson

Noah had never seen rain in his life, but that didn’t stop him from building the ark. It came in handy later on. WOW!

We readily “ooh” and “aah” and applaud thunderously at magicians with their sleight of hand, smoke and mirrors, and trick angle presentations to amuse us, though we know its trickery. But everyday God presents an incomparable array of natural beauty, windows of great opportunity, and unconditional love; yet He barely gets a raised eyebrow from most. We often miss it because of our self-centered focus. God does reward those who truly seek after Him, for it is only through the eyes of faith that we can actually see Him at work, and when we do it is a most beautiful sight. If we’ve been missing God, it’s not because He’s not there, it’s because we have too much glare (distractions) in our lives. Maybe we need to put on the sunglasses of faith to see a bit more clearly.

Until tomorrow…..

Pastor Botts

“By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice….Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death.” – Hebrews 11:17,19

Everything You Need

“I have never seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging for bread.” – Psalm 37:25

Paul said that whether he had plenty or none, as long as he had God he was content. AMEN!

As an avid coffee drinker I’ve hit a many donut shops in my time. Some good, some not so good. But I can recall a poem I once saw some years back that resonates with life:   As you travel through life friend, Whatever be your goal, Keep your eyes on the donut, And not upon the hole.   It’s a somewhat simple message that’s meant to remind us that we should spend more time looking at and being thankful for what we have and not worrying about what we don’t have. God has gifted us with exactly everything He needs us to have at this moment. In fact, we’ve got more blessings than we can truly count, and maybe that’s what we should do, start counting and start thanking Him for every one of them. In the end it’s a lot more meaningful and a lot less costly, and we can all stand to save a little more anyway.

Until tomorrow…..

Pastor Botts

“…..My cup runs over. Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life…..” – Psalm 23:5