The darkness of the night hides not the light of day.
For when the daylight comes it chases night away.

Many times it seems that the darkness of night will engulf us so effectively that there could be no escape from it. Nothing seems to go right; hope becomes less and less; discouragement and disappointment take over our lives.

Stop! That is enough morose thinking! It is time to wake up, open our eyes and reassess our positions in this world. God has never forsaken even one of His children. He has promised never to leave us or forsake us. He is faithful and just; He is everloving and kind; He knows our every need. He supplies our needs as He sees fit, in His due time, when it is proper and right to do so.

The night does pass; the day arrives. Darkness has gone and light has replaced it. We can now see. What once was hidden from our sight is now in plain view. The cares and wories of the night vanished with the morning. "Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning." (Psalm 30:5b).

In the light of day we are able to view life from a different perspective than we could in the darkness of night. Darkness represents the evils of the world. Therein we become tangled and may lose our way. Light represents the better aspects of life. Within the light we can see our way better and thus not get tangled again in bondage to the world and to Satan.

Let us walk in the light as He is the light.

"Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night? The watchman said, The morning cometh, and also the night..." (Isaiah 21:11b & 12).

Life on earth is filled with nights and days both in nature and spiritually. In all parts of the earth with the exception of areas near the poles, there is a period of darkness and a period of light each 24 hour day. Those who do not have access to artificial light must make the most of the daylight hours to perform their work. Little can be accomplished during the hours of night.

The child of God experiences many nights during his pilgrimage. These come in many forms. There are times when the cares of this world overshadow the things of the Lord to the extent we walk in darkness. There are times when pain, illness, grief and disappointments bring a time of night to our lives. At these times, it is a great blessing to hear the words of encouragement from the watchman: "The morning cometh...." No matter how dark the hour, we can be assured that the morning is coming. Often the Lord brings relief to us while we live. But, even if this does not occur, the Lord has promised an eternal morning to those who love Him.

There is not only the encouraging word to those who are experiencing night, but also a word of caution to those who think there will be no more trials. "The morning cometh, and also the night...."

In nature, we usually see strength and health in youth. Both physically and mentally, they are in better condition and able to accomplish more than those who are in their declining years. It is great to have the strength of youth, but there is a downside to this also. One is apt to trust in his own strength and ability, rather than depend upon the Lord. The watchman lets us know that even though we may be walking in the beautiful morning of life, the night is most surely coming!

Solomon warns youth of this very thing. In Ecclesiastes 11:9, he tells the young man who is bent on walking in "ways of thine own heart, and in the sight of thine eyes" that the Lord will bring him into judgment for his actions. "Therefore remove sorrow from thy heart, and put away evil from thy flesh: for childhood and youth are vanity" (Eccl. 11:10).

"Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them" (Eccl. 12:1).
In the verses that follow the young man or woman is reminded of the frailties that await one in old-age. We should serve the Lord today, because we are not assured that we will live tomorrow; and if we do, we may not have the strength and health to do many things in His service that we are able to do today.

I believe God is all-powerful, ever-present and everywhere present.

I believe He is without beginning or ending of days. He is alpha and omega, the first and the last.

I believe God is all-wise, knows the greatest and the least of all details, and is without a lack of wisdom.

I believe God has never lost even one of His children, knows them all by name and loves every one of them.

I believe God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, into this world for a specific purpose, to save His people from their sins.

I believe He did what He came to do and finished the job before He returned to the Father in Heaven.

I believe the salvation of every child of God is sure and steadfast, made so in the covenant of grace before the foundation of the world and made manifest through the death of Jesus Christ upon the cross.

I believe Jesus laid down His life for the children of God. No man took His life, but He gave up the Ghost, laid down His life, for a period of three days and three nights, while He was in the heart of the earth, where He took ours sins, where He left our sins.

I believe Jesus arose after three days and nights, was seen of Mary and then of many before He ascended back to the Father in Heaven. Jesus did indeed raise that temple after three days. The temple was not Solomon's but it was the body of Christ, the dwelling place of His Spirit and Soul.

I believe that just as surely as Jesus came the first time, without sin unto salvation, that He is coming a second time, with one purpose: to call home every child of God that the Father gave Him in eternity past, every child for whom He died upon the cross.

I believe He will not lose a single one, but that He will take them all home to Glory, ever to be with the Father.

I believe.

"{43} For a good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit; neither doth a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. {44} For every tree is known by his own fruit. For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes. {45} A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh." - Luke 6:43-45.

We are not to judge others. Let us consider ourself. What kind of fruit are we bearing? Are we a profitable tree, bearing good fruit, or are we an evil tree, bringing forth evil fruit? Let us consider for a moment that we are all fruit inspectors. As such, would we have to mark "condemned" on our fruit? Could we mark it with a triple A rating?

Aristotle said, "We are what we repeatedly do." Are we bringing forth good fruit continually? Do we constantly bring forth bad fruit? Recently I was at the Farmers' Market to purchase some tomatoes. A lady was sorting through cases of beautiful red tomatoes, large and seemingly in excellent condition. However, she was discarding several 55-gallon garbage cans of those tomatoes.

Upon inquiring the reason, she said they had blemishes and she could not sell them in that condition. Hence, she was discarding them. The thought occurred to me, What if the Lord did the same with us? We certainly are blemished; we are imperfect; we are less than desirable to look upon as sinners.

The tomatoes being discarded were fully ripe and just what I needed for my purposes. The others were not ripe enough - they would have to be kept for several days before they would be ripe enough to use. By that time they, too, would probably have tiny blemishes. I obtained some of the "bad" tomatoes before they were thrown out, paid for them and went home to process those good, ripe tomatoes. None were spoiled.

The Lord Jesus Christ did the same thing for all that the Father gave Him. Jesus came and rescued us from the dung heaps of the world. He took us unto Himself and made something of us. He changed us from vile lost sinners to redeemed children of God. Jesus bore fruit while He was upon this earth. He was about the Father's business when, at the age of 12, he both talked with and questioned those elders in the temple, astounding them with His great knowledge and wisdom. He bore good fruit.

Now that we have been rescued from destruction and have been redeemed from our lost condition, are we as good trees bearing good fruit? Before, we were not able to do so; now, we are.

What kind of fruit are we bearing?

I have just read an article which states that talking to a child as a means of correcting his or her behavior is as harmful to that child as would be a spanking. This is especially true if the parents raise their voice to the child.

I find this idea difficult to accept. The researchers interviewed four-year-old children in kindergarten and tabulated their responses. Upon these responses they based their conclusions. Very scientific: let the infant instruct the adult as to how that adult should teach and train that child.

The Bible teaches us to train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it. I well remember lessons which I learned before I started to school. These lessons were taught at home by my parents and I have never forgotten those lessons. Also, I do not feel that I was hampered in any way by having been taught right from wrong, from having been taught to respect those in authority over me, and from having been taught to obey my parents.

A parent who will not discipline a child ceases to be a parent and becomes the means by which another infant was brought into the world. Some people act as if they believe nothing more is required of them after the child is born.

God trusts parents with the care and wellbeing of the children He gives them. It is the responsibility of the parents to teach their children to be good citizens while in this world. We are to train our children, teaching the finer things of life such as trusting in God, obeying our parents, behaving among the population of this earth.

A few days ago about 20 youths beat a man so badly that he died about three days later. It was reported that the youths ranged in age from 10 to 18 years of age.

Can anyone tell me what went wrong?

The Bible speaks about being clothed in modest apparel. What is modest apparel? We ought to wear clothing which is of the proper size, made from decent material, and which covers our body sufficiently to avoid offending anyone. Our clothing should be proper for the time and place where it is being worn.

Another type of clothing is of a spiritual nature. Are we clothed with the righteousness of Jesus Christ? Do we wear our holy garments in a God-honoring and respectful manner? We are admonished to put on the whole armour of God. There are seven parts to this armour. Can you name them all without going to the Bible for the scripture?

When the child of God is properly attired he will be wearing both the natural and the spiritual clothing in the right manner. We cannot properly wear one while improperly wearing the other. We must take heed how we dress lest we find ourself improperly attired.

Indecency brings contempt while decency brings respect.

"Now the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, {2} Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me." - Jonah 1:1-2.

How many times has the word of the Lord come to us? God speaks to His children but often we do not hear Him. Probably it would be more nearly accurate to say that we hear Him but we choose to ignore what we hear. We teach that God is all-wise, but we sometimes act as if He needed us to assist Him. We decide that we can either hear and heed or hear and ignore what He says.

God makes Himself heard. Jonah heard what God said: "Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me." Jonah heard; Jonah knew what God commanded of him.

Jonah also knew why God wanted him to go to Nineveh. The people of that great city were wicked and their wickedness had come up before God. God is not pleased with sin. God will not tolerate sin. Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed because of their great sinfulness. Because of sin God commanded Jonah to go to Nineveh and cry against their sinfulness.