I'm not going to do the card Susanna tagged me but I will post some Spurgeon instead taken from his Cheque book of Faith.
'For the needy shall not alway be forgotten; the expectation of the poor shall not perish for ever'. Psalm 9.18
Poverty is a hard heritage; but those who trust in the Lord are made rich by faith. They know that they are not forgotten of God; and though it may seem that they are overlooked in his providential distribution of good things, they look for a time when all things shall be righted. Lazarus will not always lie among the dogs at the the rich man's gate, but he will have recompense in Abraham's bosom.
Even now the Lord remembers his poor and precious sons. 'I am poor and needy; yet the Lord thinketh upon me', said one of old; and it is even so. The godly poor have great expectations. They expect God to provide them all things necessary for this life and godliness; they expect to see all things working for their good; they expect to have the closer fellowship with their Lord, who had nowhere to lay his head; they expect the second advent, and to share in it's glory. This expectation cannot perish, for it is laid up in Jesus Christ, who liveth for ever, and because he lives, it shall live also. The poor saint singeth many a song which the rich sinner cannot understand. Wherefore, let us, when we have short commons below, think of the royal table above.
Good old Spurgeon. Even more today we can be thankful as we have so much more than others of old and many now in other countries. When we think about what we really need, we find more often than not, that we have it. Other things are wishes or comforts which we may have in time but are not necessary. This is why I cannot write a list of my physical needs because I have no major needs and to write small things will belittle other's greater needs. The Lord has provided me with a house big enough to hold the current occupants comfortably and God willing, by his provision, we should this year extend upwards to create more space.
As for listing my spiritual needs in the tag. They are as great as ever. I have more recently enjoyed closer fellowship with my Lord but desire deeper and more meaningful study of His word and usefulness for him. This is difficult when fighting against the strong rebellious sinner within. How I long to be a meek saint not a raging bull. To be humble, not to care what others thinks, to be so free from this world's influences that I can just revel in spiritual things........and so on. I guess this is why the believer looks to heaven when this will be a reality!!!
Did you know that at current death rates God judges 153,000 souls every 24 hours. Mind boggling isn't it? In the recent S&T Spurgeon writes that he believes the numbers of saved souls will outnumber the lost on the final day so Christ will have the larger number to himself. He argues that this will be possible due to the number of infants saved through Christ's powerful and earnt right to give them salvation from their original sin. I can readily believe that when I consider the amount of children killed before they even breathe. But at least upon these souls is bestowed the bounteous love of Christ and unsearchable depth of mercy.
Sooooooooo, I was going to post some pictures of Nathanael and Matthew's first Christmas but I'll do that next time. nn XX
And last but not least, Santa out of uniform (and shaven) celebrating his lifesize Rismas tree!!!! Risma tree, risma tree................bring some presents just for me!!!