OUR WAY MAKER
BREAD
21 By day the LORD went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night. 22 Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people. Exodus 13:21-22 (NIV)
10 Listen, my son, accept what I say, and the years of your life will be many. 11 I guide you in the way of wisdom and lead you along straight paths. 12 When you walk, your steps will not be hampered; when you run, you will not stumble. 13 Hold on to instruction, do not let it go; guard it well, for it is your life. 14 Do not set foot on the path of the wicked or walk in the way of evil men. 15 Avoid it, do not travel on it; turn from it and go on your way. Proverbs 4:10-15 (NIV)
31 “As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the LORD is flawless. He is a shield for all who take refuge in him.” 2 Samuel 22:31 (NIV)
8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you. Psalm 32:8 (NIV)
9 How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word. Psalm 119:9 (NIV)
21 Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.” Isaiah 30:21 (NIV)
8 And a highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness. The unclean will not journey on it; it will be for those who walk in that Way; wicked fools will not go about on it. Isaiah 35:8 (NIV)
16 This is what the LORD says: “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. But you said, ‘We will not walk in it.’” Jeremiah 6:16 (NIV)
17 This is what the LORD says– your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “I am the LORD your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go. 18 If only you had paid attention to my commands, your peace would have been like a river, your righteousness like the waves of the sea.” Isaiah 48:17-18 (NIV)
6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6 (NIV)
18 “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 21 Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him.” John 14:18-21 (NIV)
16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit–fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. John 15:16 (NIV)
12 There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death. Proverbs 14:12 (NIV)
15 The way of a fool seems right to him, but a wise man listens to advice. Proverbs 12:15 (NIV)
BUTTER
“It is natural for us to wish and to plan, and it is merciful of the Lord to disappoint our plans and to cross our wishes. For we cannot be safe or happy until we are weaned from our own wills and made simply desirous of being directed by His guidance. Although we understand this we seldom learn to put it into practice without being trained for a while in the school of disappointment. The schemes we form look so plausible and convenient that when they are broken we are ready to say, ‘What a pity!’ We try again, and with no better success; we are grieved, and perhaps angry, and plan another, and so on; eventually, in the course of time, experience and observation begin to convince us that we are no more able than we are worthy to choose correctly for ourselves. The Lord’s invitation to cast our cares upon Him, and His promise to take care of us, appear valuable; and when we have done planning, His plan in our favor gradually opens, and He does more and better for us than we could either ask or think. I can hardly recollect a single plan of mine, which if it had taken place in the time and the way I wanted would, humanly speaking, have proved my ruin; or at least would have deprived me of the greater good the Lord had designed for me. We judge things by their present appearance; but the Lord sees them in their consequences. If we could do the same we would be perfectly of His mind; but since we can’t, it is an unspeakable mercy that He will manage for us, whether we are pleased with His management or not; and it is regarded as one of His heaviest judgments when He gives any person up to the way of their own hearts, and to walk according to their own wisdom.” John Newton
“He knows the way He taketh,” even if for the moment we do not.” J.I. Packer
“I am waiting on Thee, Lord, to open the way.” J. Hudson Taylor
“We must remember that God will never drag us along the path of true-hearted discipleship. This would greatly lack the moral excellency which characterizes all the ways of God. He does not drag, but draws us along the path which leads to ineffable blessedness in Himself; and if we do see that it is for our real advantage to break through all the barriers of nature, in order to respond to Gods’ call, we forsake our own mercies. But alas! Our hearts little enter into this. We begin to calculate about the sacrifices, the hindrances, and the difficulties, instead of bounding along the path, in eagerness of soul, as knowing and loving the One whose call has sounded in our ears”. C H Macintosh
“Give me the love that leads the way, The faith that nothing can dismay, The hope no disappointments tire, The passion that will burn like fire, Let me not sink to be a clod: Make me Thy fuel, Flame of God.” Amy Carmichael
“I know not the way God leads me, but well do I know my Guide.” Martin Luther
“Every revelation of God is a demand, and the way to knowledge of God is by obedience.”
William Temple
“We as Christians know that faith is taking God at His Word. And we realize that faith does not get us around our problems, but it gets us through them. Such a promise is found in Psalm 48:14, ‘For this is God, our God forever and ever. He will be our guide even to death.’ His promise then is no matter how difficult we may find life to be, He will guide us all the way home. Isaiah 42:16 ‘And I will bring the blind by a way they know not. I will lead them in paths that they have not known.’ This is the way God leads His own. You and I are blind to the future, but He is not, and He has promised to lead all who will put their trust in Him. Sometimes, because our circumstances are totally out of our control, we not only have to believe these promises, but we must put them to the test.” Wales Goebel
“Most of us go through life praying a little, planning a little, jockeying for position, hoping but never being quite certain of anything, and always secretly afraid that we will miss the way. There is a better way. It is to repudiate our own and take instead the infinite wisdom of God…..God has charged Himself with full responsibility for our eternal happiness and stands ready to take over the management of our lives the moment we turn in faith to Him.” A. W. Tozer
“God is wonderful in all his doings, his ways are past finding out; at the end we can see best the wise and gracious steps he took with us: therefore, when things take such a wonderful turn that we are quite at our wits’ end, and do not know which way to go, we may believe the hand of the Lord is in it, and some good will come of it at last. As we experience the name of Christ to be wonderful at such times, we may well expect that he will show himself to be our Counsellor and mighty God also. At first, everything may seem to be against us, and go quite contrary; but at last, we see plainly that it was highly needful that it should go contrary to our corrupt nature, and that thus it went well; for though the ways of God are marvelous, yet they are glorious.” K. H. Von Bogatzky
“We sometimes seem to forget that what God takes He takes in fire; and that the only way to the resurrection life and the ascension mount is the way of the garden, the cross, and the grave. Think not, O soul of man, that Abraham’s was a unique and solitary experience. It is simply a specimen and pattern of God’s dealings with all souls who are prepared to obey Him at whatever cost. After thou hast patiently endured, thou shalt receive the promise. The moment of supreme sacrifice shall be the moment of supreme and rapturous blessing. God’s river, which is full of water, shall burst its banks, and pour upon thee a tide of wealth and grace. There is nothing, indeed, which God will not do for a man who dares to step out upon what seems to be the mist; though as he puts down his foot he finds a rock beneath him.” F. B. Meyer
“In our walk with God we are told explicitly by Christ Himself that it would be His Spirit who would be sent to guide us and to lead us into all truth (John 16:13). This same gracious Spirit takes the truth of God, the Word of God, and makes it plain to our hearts and minds and spiritual understanding. It is He who gently, tenderly, but persistently says to us, ‘This is the way – walk in it.’ And as we comply and cooperate with His gentle promptings a sense of safety, comfort and well-being envelops us.” Phillip Keller
“We should follow Christ in simplicity and faith, because the paths in which He leads us all end in glory and immortality. It is true they may not be smooth paths – they may be covered with sharp flinty trials, but they lead to the ‘city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.’ ‘All the ways of the Lord are loving and faithful for those who keep the demands of His covenant.’ Let’s put full trust in our Leader, since we know that, come prosperity or adversity, sickness or health, popularity or contempt, His purpose shall be worked out, and that purpose shall be pure, unmingled good to every heir of mercy…..His dear love will make us far more blessed than those who sit at home and warm their hands at the world’s fire.” Charles H. Spurgeon
HEART SAVOR
• God lovingly directs His people – sometimes “Go”, sometimes “Stay”, sometimes “Wait and Wait and Wait”. He is never early nor is He ever late – His timing is always perfect – everything occurring in His “Fullness of time”. He is ever guiding our feet into the path of peace.
• His ways are good and pleasing and perfect even though our circumstances could shout otherwise. He always has the best interest at heart for every child of the King.
• 1 The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. 2 He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, 3 he restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. 4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. 5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. 6 Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever. Psalm 23:1-6 (NIV)
Beth Yoe's Sharing Bread 