Category Archives: Spiritual Growth

October 19, 2021 · 10:47 PM

Security for Life

Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. (Matthew 7:24-25 ESV)

A building is only as sturdy as its foundation. The same can be said for a life.

Those who design buildings give careful attention to the foundation required for any project they undertake. They study the ground on which the building will be built, and meticulously plan for the composition of materials needed to lay an adequate foundation that will make the building stable and secure. There will be stresses exerted on the building that can only be withstood with a proper foundation.

This is also true of a human life. We can only withstand the stresses we endure when the foundation we are building our life on is designed and built with the right materials. A building’s foundation is constructed using brick and mortar and steel and cement to fashion a foundation that will support thousands of tons of weight. A life, on the other hand, is built with choices, values, and beliefs that are made and embraced from a person’s earliest years. And what material is used in making and embracing those choices, values, and beliefs? Jesus told us in Matthew 7, and the writer of the hymn “How Firm a Foundation” made it clear as well.

How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord,
Is laid for your faith in His excellent Word!
What more can He say than to you He hath said,
To you who for refuge to Jesus have fled?

Jesus said, “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock” (Matthew 7:24 ESV). All the material needed to build a strong and vibrant life is found in the Word of God. But just like a builder must put his knowledge of construction into action, so a person must put his knowledge of God’s Word into action. It is not enough just to know. As James writes, “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only . . .” (James 1:22 ESV). When we put what we know from God’s Word into practice, we can then be assured of God’s strength in our daily lives.

“Fear not; I am with thee. O be not dismayed,
For I am thy God, I will still give thee aid.
I will strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand,
Upheld by My gracious, omnipotent hand.”

A proper foundation gives a building the strength to bear the weight of all that is built on top of it. We, too, have internal stresses – “deep waters” as the hymn writer puts it – sorrows, trials, and distresses – that we must bear, and for which we need the solid foundation of God’s infallible Word.

“When through the deep waters I call thee to go,
The rivers of sorrow shall not overflow;
For I will be with thee thy trials to bless,
And sanctify to thee thy deepest distress.”

In Matthew 7, Jesus talked about a house facing rain and floods and wind. Buildings are built to withstand pressures in the atmosphere and from the shifting of the ground. So, it is in our daily living. Forces come to bear on us that would cause us to crumble were it not for the “grace all-sufficient” that is our foundation.

“When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie,
My grace all-sufficient, shall be thy supply.
The flames shall not hurt thee; I only design
Thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine.”

My friend Bruce Van Patter, in his column 8:18, wrote recently about finding an old church building that had been built in the mid-1800s.  While no longer in use, it is still standing, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. When we see a building that has stood the “test of time,” we know that it was built well. When we see a person in their later years whose life has been lived well, we know that such a person has known the “sovereign, eternal, unchangeable love” of the God whose Word they have lived by.

“Even down to old age all My people shall prove
My sovereign, eternal, unchangeable love;
And when silver hair shall their temples adorn,
Like lambs they shall still in My bosom be borne.”

Jesus said that the house of the wise man felt the brunt of rain and floods and wind. They “. . . beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock” (Matthew 7:25 ESV). You and I at times feel like “all hell” has been unleashed upon us, but our confidence need not be shaken. If we have built the foundation of our lives on knowing God and His Word, and obeying God and His Word, then we have his promise that He will “never, no, never, no, never forsake” us.

“The soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose
I will not, I will not desert to his foes.
That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,
I’ll never, no, never, no never forsake.”

Follow this link to a recording of “How Firm a Foundation” that you can sing along with.

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To subscribe and receive A SONG TO THE LORD in your email, just follow this link: https://www.ailbe.org/resources/community. A SONG TO THE LORD is just one of the audio resources that are available free at the website of The Fellowship of Ailbe – www.ailbe.org. There you will find printed, audio, and video resources for individual and group study available free of charge.

T. M. Moore, the Principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, and Rusty Rabon host THE AILBE PODCAST which you can find on The Fellowship of Ailbe website here.

Rusty Rabon also hosts a Zoom book reading program called READING GREAT BOOKS five nights each week (Thursdays through Mondays). The Zoom link and current book information are available here on The Fellowship of Ailbe website. And if you are interested in other devotional writings by Rusty Rabon, click here  You can follow Rusty Rabon at www.rustyrabon.com, on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/rusty.raabon.9/, and on Twitter at https://mobile.twitter.com/RustyRabon.

Join the Ailbe Community!

As a member of The Fellowship of Ailbe Community you join a movement of men working for revival, renewal, and awakening, built upon prayer, sharing, and mutual edification. The Ailbe Community is devoted to practicing the Kingship of Jesus in every area of our lives. Go to ailbe.org to learn more.

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Filed under Daily Living, Hope, Humility, Knowing God, Spiritual Growth

September 21, 2021 · 6:52 PM

Food for Life

One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple. (Psalm 27:4 NKJV)

In chapter 6 of the Gospel of John we find the account of Jesus feeding over five thousand people.  John records how this miracle impacted the twelve: “Then those men, when they had seen the sign that Jesus did, said, ‘This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world’” (John 6:14 NKJV).  John says that Jesus then went away by himself because the people wanted to “. . . come and take Him by force to make Him king” (John 6:15 NKJV).  John then adds an application to this event later in chapter 6.  Sometime later that evening, Jesus and the apostles went across the Sea of Galilee to Capernaum.  The next morning, people who had been in the crowd got into boats to find Jesus.  When they found Him, He gave this critique of their motives: “You seek Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled.  Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you . . .” (John 6:26-27 NKJV).  Jesus was saying that the people were guilty of seeking the “blessing” more than the “Blesser.”  They wanted to find Jesus not because the miracle had opened their eyes to who He was, but because they were pleased with the benefit that being with Him brought to them.

We are often guilty of the same thing.  Our prayers are often filled with lists of things we desire rather than with words of praise for our Sovereign King or words of conversation with our Faithful Friend.  Instead of allowing the Bible to be the “Gospel food” that whets our appetite for more time in God’s presence, we are satisfied to find an answer to a question or a boost for our emotions.  As John quoted Jesus, we are looking just to be filled but not seeking the One who alone can fully fill forever.

This is the point that Mary Lathbury made in her Gospel hymn, Break Thou the Bread of Life.

Break Thou the bread of life, dear Lord, to me, as Thou didst break the loaves beside the sea.
Beyond the sacred page I seek Thee, Lord; my spirit pants for Thee, O Living Word.

Jesus, the Living Word – the Bread of Life – makes Himself known to us and feeds our souls through the written word – the Bible.  But knowing Bible facts or truths alone is not what we need.  I heard someone pray recently that the Lord would deliver us from “dead orthodoxy – being right in the head but wrong in the heart.”  We can have a lot of Bible knowledge without that knowledge leading us to the Source.  The written word was given so that we might know and love the Living Word.

Break Thou the bread of life, O Lord, to me, that hid within my heart Thy Word may be.
Mold Thou each inward thought, from self set free, and let my steps be all controlled by Thee.

This is the point that is made in Psalm 119: “Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against you” (Psalm 119:11 NKJV).  The purpose of the written word is that we hear from the Spirit of the Living Word and open ourselves up to being changed from the inside out.

Open Thy Word of Truth that I may see Thy message written clear and plain for me.
Then in sweet fellowship, walking with Thee, Thine image on my life engraved will be.

This is also the point that the apostle Paul made when writing to the Corinthians.  God is not interested in us just knowing about Him, but in our transformation as we spend time with Him. “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord” (2 Corinthians 3:18 NKJV).

O send Thy Spirit, Lord, now unto me, that He may touch my eyes and make me see.
Show me the truth concealed within Thy Word; and in Thy Book revealed I see the Lord.

May the Spirit of God do such a work in us that we will “. . . pant for Thee, O Living Word;” that all our steps will be “. . . controlled by Thee;” that His “image on [our lives] engraved will be;” and that in Him we will truly find our “. . . peace, [our] all in all.”

Bless Thou the truth, dear Lord, to me, to me, as Thou didst bless the bread by Galilee.
Then shall all bondage cease, all fetters fall, and I shall find my peace, my All in All.

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To subscribe and receive A SONG TO THE LORD in your email, just follow this link: https://www.ailbe.org/resources/community. A SONG TO THE LORD is just one of several audio resources that are available free at the website of The Fellowship of Ailbe – www.ailbe.org.  There you will find many printed, audio, and video resources for individual and group study available free of charge.

T. M. Moore, the Principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, and Rusty Rabon host THE AILBE PODCAST which you can find on The Fellowship of Ailbe website here.

Rusty Rabon also hosts a Zoom book reading program called READING GREAT BOOKS five nights each week (Thursdays through Mondays).  The Zoom link and current book information are available here on The Fellowship of Ailbe website.  And if you are interested in other devotional writings by Rusty Rabon, click here  You can follow Rusty Rabon at www.rustyrabon.com, on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/rusty.raabon.9/, and on Twitter at https://mobile.twitter.com/RustyRabon.

Join the Ailbe Community!
As a member of The Fellowship of Ailbe Community you join a movement of men working for revival, renewal, and awakening, built upon prayer, sharing, and mutual edification. The Ailbe Community is devoted to practicing the Kingship of Jesus in every area of our lives. Go to ailbe.org to learn more.

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Filed under Daily Living, Hymn devotional, Knowing God, Praise, Spiritual Growth

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August 30, 2021 · 11:27 AM

Our Highest Goal

“. . . that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. (Colossians 1:10 NKJV)

It is always good to get started “on the right foot.”  Whether it is a project, a job, or a relationship, it is good when things begin well.  The prospects for a successful venture seem good when they get started in the right way.  But it is also important to finish well.  No matter the way something begins in our lives, the goal is that when we reach the end, we can know that it was “well done.”

King Solomon started well.  We read in 1 Kings 3 that as Solomon began his reign as king of Israel, succeeding his father David, Solomon “. . . loved the LORD, walking in the statutes of his father David . . . Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings . . .” (3:3-4 NKJV).  When God asked him what he desired from the Lord, he did not ask for things that would make him look good in the eyes of the kings of the surrounding nations (like wealth and riches), but rather he asked God for “. . . an understanding heart to judge Your people, that I may discern between good and evil” (1 Kings 3:9 NKJV).  A good beginning to his reign as king.  Had he lived and reigned during the New Testament era, he might have prayed in words like those written by Thomas Chisholm in his Gospel hymn, I Want to Be Like Jesus.

I have one deep, supreme desire – that I may be like Jesus.
To this I fervently aspire – that I may be like Jesus.
I want my heart His throne to be, so that a watching world may see
His likeness shining forth in me.  I want to be like Jesus.

We don’t know a lot about Jesus’ earthly life except for the approximately thirty-six months of his ministry.  The Scriptures record just thirty-six months – a short three years – during which Jesus declared by word and example that “the time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God is at hand.  Repent, and believe the Gospel” (Mark 1:15 NKJV).

He spent His life in doing good; I want to be like Jesus.
In lowly paths of service trod; I want to be like Jesus.
He sympathized with hearts distress, He spoke the words that cheered and blessed,
He welcomed sinners to His breast.  I want to be like Jesus.

“He spent His life in doing good.”  That sounds like something I would like written on my tombstone.  Think of all that Jesus did in those three years of ministry.  He healed the sick.  He raised the dead.  As Thomas Chisholm wrote, “He sympathized with hearts distressed; He spoke the words that cheered and blessed.”  But most of all, “He welcomed sinners to His breast.”  Jesus came to “. . . seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10 NKJV).  He lived to do the will of his heavenly Father, which ultimately led Him to the cross.

A holy, harmless life He led; I want to be like Jesus.
The Father’s will – His drink and bread; I want to be like Jesus.
And when at last He comes to die, “Forgive them, Father,” was His cry
For those who taunt and crucify.  I want to be like Jesus.

What are your goals in life?  What do you want your “life message” to be?  Have you gotten off to a good start, or is your life a story of brokenness and strife?  Of sin and failure?  No matter how you have begun, you can finish well.  Solomon started strong, but over the course of his life he drifted from his love for the Lord and finished his life a broken and compromised man.  You and I do not have to finish that way. As you day by day – moment by moment – yield the control of your life to the Lord, His Spirit will fill you and empower you “. . . that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. (Colossians 1:10 NKJV)

O perfect life of Christ, my Lord!  I want to be like Jesus.
My recompense and my reward – that I may be like Jesus.
His Spirit fill my hungering soul, His power all my life control.
My deepest prayer, my highest goal – that I may be like Jesus.

Enjoy an arrangement of this hymn by David and Steven Au at this link:

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To subscribe and receive A SONG TO THE LORD in your email, just follow this link: https://www.ailbe.org/resources/community   And if you are interested in other devotional writings by Rusty Rabon, click here. T. M. Moore and Rusty Rabon host THE AILBE PODCAST which you can find on The Fellowship of Ailbe website here. Rusty also hosts a Zoom book reading program called READING GREAT BOOKS five nights each week (Thursdays through Mondays).  The Zoom link and current book information are available here on The Fellowship of Ailbe website.

You can follow Rusty at his website – www.rustyrabon.com – and you can contact him at rustyrabon@gmail.com

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Filed under Daily Living, Hymn devotional, Spiritual Growth, Worship

June 14, 2021 · 8:25 PM

To God All Praise and Glory

All Praise to God, Who Reigns Above[1]

It is good to give thanks to the LORD, to sing praises to your name, O Most High . . .” (Psalm 92:1 NRSV)

It is not uncommon to hear the phrase “Praise the Lord!” uttered by Christians or in a Christian context.  We say, “Praise the Lord!” when we are emotionally blessed in a worship service.  We say, “Praise the Lord!” when some unexpected material blessing comes our way.  We say, “Praise the Lord!” when we feel especially close to the Lord in a time of prayer or worship.  These are good reasons to praise our God, but there are more.  Yes, God deserves our praise for His loving actions for us, but even more He deserves our praise for Who He is in his character and attributes.  Johann Schutz captured some of these prompts for praise in his hymn, “All Praise to God, Who Reigns Above.”

All praise to God who reigns above, the God of all creation,

The God of wonders, power and love, the God of our salvation!

With healing balm my soul he fills, the God who every sorrow stills.

To God all praise and glory!

What God’s almighty power hath made his gracious mercy keepeth;

By morning dawn or evening shade his watchful eye ne’er sleepeth;

Within the kingdom of his might, lo, all is just, and all is right.

To God all praise and glory!

I cried to him in time of need: “Lord God, O heart my calling!”

For death he gave me life indeed and kept my feet from falling.

For this my thanks shall endless be; O thank him, thank our God with me.

To God all praise and glory!

The Lord forsaketh not his flock, his chosen generation;

He is their refuge and their rock, their peace, and their salvation.

As with a mother’s tender hand he leads his own, his chosen band.

To God all praise and glory!

Who is this God who is deserving of our highest praise?   He is the God of creation.  He is the God whose great love is seen in His gift of salvation.  He is the Healer of souls and the Comforter of sorrows.  He is the God whose mercy keeps us secure.  He is the God of perfect justice and righteousness.  He is the faithful God who never leaves nor forsakes His own.

And what does our God do that deserves our highest praise?  He calms our fears and brings peace to our storm-filled lives.  He hears our every cry, picking us up when life has knocked us down.  He is our refuge in trouble and our rock when circumstances toss us around. “He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son” (Colossians 1:13 NRSV).

With each stanza – with each statement of who God is or what He has done – Schutz repeats his call to praise.  Let us join the chorus of saints of all time – the “great cloud of witnesses” (Hebrews 12:1) – in lifting our hearts and voices to answer the call of Johann Schutz: “To God all praise and glory!”

Follow this YouTube link for a video that you can use as an accompaniment to your singing this hymn.

[1] Schutz, Johann J. THE TRINITY HYMNAL, Hymn 4. Suwanee, Ga: Great Commission Publications, 2006

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December 20, 2018 · 9:01 AM

THE LIGHT OF LIFE

John 1:4-5 ESV
In him was life, and the life was the light of men.  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

This day has brought a thousand burdened thoughts,
Of goals unmet and actions all for naught;
Of aspirations not to be achieved,
Of love’s embrace desired but not received.

The world is dark around with pain and fright,
Though midday, still it seems the dead of night;
Nurture not returned and love grows cold,
A sheep without a shepherd or a fold.

Is there a light that drives darkness away?
Can midnight in my soul be turned to day?
There is a Light that conquers all that’s wrong;
It’s in this light I seek to find a home.

True light is found despite our toil and tears,
True light will overcome all doubts and fears;
True light is Life that shows the way to live;
True Life is One who came His life to give.

My heart desires to live bathed in this light,
From which my inner turmoil will take flight;
So, to the place of solace I will go
Where beams of holy comfort can be known.

This comfort comes from lingering in prayer
And giving to the Light-source all my care;
The altar opens to the throne of God,
His Life gives light and lifts the way I trod.

So, what about those thousand thoughts of pain?
Can dwelling on them beget any gain?
No!  Dwell instead upon the holy Light,
To feel and know God’s love and grace and might.

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December 10, 2018 · 7:06 PM

Feelings and Facts at Christmas

The Christmas season can be tough.  For many people, the sights, sounds, and aromas of Christmas can resurrect painful memories of heartache, disappointment, or loss.  The transformation of Ebenezer Scrooge, or the “perfect” Christmas kiss at the end of a favorite Hallmark movie, may cause some hearts to flutter, but will bring tears of pain or guilt or deep sadness to others.

I’m one of those people for whom Christmas brings a mixture of emotions.  I have some great memories of Christmases past, especially of the Christmas music concerts of my church and high school and college choirs.  Before the “advent” of CDs and digital downloads, I always looked forward to pulling out the Christmas records (remember those?) and playing favorites from Bing and Frank and Dean and Burl.  During my years in radio, I loved it when we began playing all Christmas music right after Thanksgiving.  When my kids were small, I enjoyed taking them riding to see the lights around town, and still enjoy doing that with the grandkids.  Christmas can indeed be filled with joy.

But some of my most painful memories are also of Christmases past.  I remember a year when a family crisis stretched from Thanksgiving through Christmas into the new year.  While that was over 25 years ago, the memory still haunts me.  There is also the memory of a Christmas with a 4-year old and a 1-year old, and the only presents we could afford were the cheapest things available at K-Mart.  When my son brought a toy identical to one of those cheap ones (a plastic bowling set) on vacation a couple of years ago for his kids to play with, just the sight of it brought tears to my eyes – 30 years later.  Christmas can truly be filled with pain.

The pendulum of emotions swings widely this time of year.  What is a person to do if the inner response to all the joyful sounds of Christmas is a painful groan in the soul?  I don’t have a formula which will take away the pain, but I do have a suggestion that I think will help all of us work through it.  Let’s spend this Christmas season giving focused attention to the life truths that we learn at Christmas, especially in our moments of pain.

You see, Christmas teaches us that the God of the universe – the God who gave us the breath of life – loves us.  We may feel that no one really loves us, but the fact is that “. . . God so loved the world that he gave his only Son” (John 3:16 ESV).  Because of His great love for us, God the Son took on human flesh in order to take care of our greatest problem and greatest need – our sin.  We may feel that no one really loves us, and this season may create feelings of loneliness, but the fact of Christmas is that we are never alone, we are infinitely loved by God, and we celebrate Christmas as proof of that love.

Christmas teaches us that we don’t have to be good enough to earn or merit any blessing from God.  In fact, we can’t.  Sure, we’ve made some messes in our lives – some of us a complete mess.  But what matters to God is that Jesus’ life was perfect, and when we trust Jesus as our Savior, God credits His perfect life to us.  “He made the One who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21 HCSB).  We may feel condemned by others, but the fact of Christmas is that, in Christ, we are accepted as God’s children.  Christmas celebrates that God is on our side.

Finally, Christmas teaches us that God is never late and never forgets.  We read in Scripture that “. . . when the right time came, God sent His Son . . .” (Galatians 4:4 NLT).  Think of the long centuries that faithful Jews had looked and hoped for their Messiah to come.  God had promised, and God is never late.  He is right on time.  No matter how we feel, the fact is that God sovereignly controls His world, and whatever comes – or has come – or will come – into our lives comes to accomplish His good purposes for us.  The fact of Christmas is that in the fullness of time the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.  And we can trust that, at just the right time, God will be right there with us – no matter where we are or what we are feeling.  At Christmas, we celebrate God with us!  Emmanuel!  Merry Christmas!

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