The Sword of the LORD

"And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to Thy word."   (Luke 1:38). "And blessed is she that believed: for there shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the Lord.   And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour."   (Luke 1:45-47). Faith is an essential element of our walk with God.   Without it, it is not possible to please God (Hebrews 11:6).   Before any Christian work, before any ministry, before any sacrifice, there must be faith.   Jesus said, "This is the work of God, that ye believe in Him Whom He Hath sent."   (John 6:29).   So, our faith must be based on Jesus Christ, the Word of God made flesh, and what He speaks to us through the Holy Spirit as He leads us to fulfill that Word.   It is not a vague faith that stabs at some promise hoping that it is God's will; it is a revelation of God's will to our spirit through the Word

"Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.   Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also."   (Matthew 23:25,26). Years ago, when my children were very young, I began using flannel-graph figures to more simply illustrate Bible stories and lessons for them.   After a short time, other parents in our fellowship asked if they could bring their children to sit in on our lessons once a week.   Before long, word got out in our neighborhood and a dear friend of ours began picking up kids and bringing them to our house for "kids' meeting" every week.   We often had 20-25 children of various ages crowding our living room to hear about the miracles of the Bible and the principles of godliness. One particular lesson that I remember involved porcelain white mugs and mud