Tuesday, December 28, 2010

The God who knows our hearts!

Pastor preached a faithful message on Judah and Onan and Tamar, etc. Sometimes, we are avoiding these difficult passages of scripture. Sometimes, we miss the work of God in difficult passages that we are seeing. Judah and his children were in the hand of God, through covenant and they were being drawn by God, into a real relationship. The Word of God reveals God's intention to draw the children of Israel into relationship and the nations around them. What a Lover of souls, God shows Himself in these passages. Don't miss Me, He seems to say. Come and Worship. Don't use other people to get where you want to be, ie. Onan, Judah, brothers. God is still the God who knows our hearts, when we are using people in their poverty of money and or souls. Wicked, He took those boys out early. He knew their hearts and He showed them that their testimony to the Canaanites was more important than continuing to deal with their sin. Halleluia for this testimony that we can know what Wicked is to God. We can know Him and what He wants from us. Repentance, Love of others, more than all, a relationship with Him. It took even godly Enoch some years to get to know Him. Jesus gives us the ability to know God earlier than 360 years, we don't have that long to get to know Him.
Jesus paid it all! All to Him I owe! Sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it!
Help me to know You in these relationships that You have blessed me with. Help me to repent of past sins and make it right, with those that I can and heal my heart of the pains that have cut me in these sins. Make me new. Give us Yourself! Amen!

God sought them out in families. God met each family in their need. Tamar in her need to be a part of the people of God and those boys, in what they thought their need was also. Their need meeting, didn't draw them closer to God, but further away. God is a covenant God and He is faithful, in Christ to teach us His will, against our own personal desires and conquests {sometimes}. God doesn't take people out, like He did then. He sends Godly men like our Pastor to use the Scriptures to win our hearts and minds into relationship with Himself. God arrest our hearts and take us into Your care. Amen

Friday, December 24, 2010

Isaiah 41:15 Behold, I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth: thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and shalt

make the hills as chaff.


God's plan of comfort and usefulness for His people included fashioning them into instruments to draw the world into right relationship with Himself. The silence of death from the nations afar from His presence. Even the flagrant examples of disobedience will be cleansed by the blood of the Lamb. Can God cleanse Rahab? Can God clean the gnostic rebellions of Babylon? In Christ it is cleansed. God is too holy to even behold sin, but His entrance into the world was hammered through the making of a people for His own posession, that we could draw near to Him. The disobedience of Hezekiah would infiltrate in subtilty the Babylonians, through Daniel and the Power of Godliness, in Caleb, would and had subdued the godlessness of Rahab, as just a token of His heart to draw all men unto Himself.

I am not casting my people away, said God to them. I am using them to cast into the nations to draw down principalities and their possessors as fish into the net of God's intentions. I am not away from you, even in Babylon.

"God sent not His son into the world to condemn the world..."


He was making it very clear,{and Daniel got it} Israel was sharpened to do battle with the principles of darkness and even the weak things of the world would subdue what man thinks is strong. God, in Christ was, even then reconciling the world unto Himself.

Thursday, December 23, 2010

Comfort Ye...

...And after the judgement that was given to Hezekiah, in Isaiah, there were comforts. We must learn to look at our circumstances through the sieve of the sovereignty of God who is far above the circumstances. God weaves my way, into His purposes. He has my good and the purposes of His will in mind in the providences that afflict and in the providences that encourage. We are truly grasshoppers in the light of the mind of what He is doing and all that we can study would be just a drop in the bucket in the light of the eternal good that He is doing. Thus, it is right that we should make it a discipline and a comfort to be encouraged in the Word of God, in good times and in difficulties.







Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Today, I saw the line of Hezekiah's mistake and Daniel's prayer.

"Why am I made thus?" I never read that question in the book of Daniel from Daniel. He seemed to know from the onset that there were judgements that were placed upon him by the disobedience of an earlier generation. A Eunuch for the Lord, was Daniel. I cried in prayer with my reading this morning that Hezekiah could embrace that judgement with such expectation. Why? God's plan to use His people to draw all men unto Himself. Principled obedience to the will of God, was Daniel's lot. Hezekiah, as it were said, I am not a eunuch, it didn't hurt me a bit. We do that sometimes. Leave judgements for our children to pay the farthest. The angel came to Daniel in his solitary state. God has a plan Daniel. You are beloved of God. There is nothing on earth that can match that condition. He could see salvation by grace and be the vehicle to reach the earth with principles of scripture that couldn't be woven in any other way. God weaves our errors into His plan, but not without cost. Thank you dear Savior for paying the price of our salvation. That Gentiles could come to faith through Christ. Thank you God for Gabriel, as it were setting the earth or salvation's clock by the stroke of Daniel. The hands are here and at this point is when Messiah is coming, can you see it?
He saw it and now we all see it. Daniel's job was to weave the knowledge of this into the cultures that he had opportunity to instruct. We know He did it well because Wise men came from the east.
The heavens declare the glory of God! The firmament showeth His handiwork!


Isaiah 39:1 At that time Merodachbaladan, the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah: for he had heard that he had been sick, and was recovered.

Isaiah 39:2 And Hezekiah was glad of them, and shewed them the house of his precious things, the silver, and the gold, and the spices, and the precious ointment, and all the house of his armour, and all that was found in his treasures: there was nothing in his house, nor in all his dominion, that Hezekiah shewed them not.

Isaiah 39:3 Then came Isaiah the prophet unto king Hezekiah, and said unto him, What said these men? and from whence came they unto thee? And Hezekiah said, They are come from a far country unto me, even from Babylon.

Isaiah 39:4 Then said he, What have they seen in thine house? And Hezekiah answered, All that is in mine house have they seen: there is nothing among my treasures that I have not shewed them.

Isaiah 39:5 Then said Isaiah to Hezekiah, Hear the word of the LORD of hosts:

Isaiah 39:6 Behold, the days come, that all that is in thine house, and that which thy fathers have laid up in store until this day, shall be carried to Babylon: nothing shall be left, saith the LORD.

Isaiah 39:7 And of thy sons that shall issue from thee, which thou shalt beget, shall they take away; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.

Isaiah 39:8 Then said Hezekiah to Isaiah, Good is the word of the LORD which thou hast spoken. He said moreover, For there shall be peace and truth in my days.







Daniel 9:1 In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes, which was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans;

Daniel 9:2 In the first year of his reign I Daniel understood by books the number of the years, whereof the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem.

Daniel 9:3 And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes:

Daniel 9:4 And I prayed unto the LORD my God, and made my confession, and said, O Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love him, and to them that keep his commandments;

Daniel 9:5 We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from thy precepts and from thy judgments:

Daniel 9:6 Neither have we hearkened unto thy servants the prophets, which spake in thy name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.

Daniel 9:7 O Lord, righteousness belongeth unto thee, but unto us confusion of faces, as at this day; to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and unto all Israel, that are near, and that are far off, through all the countries whither thou hast driven them, because of their trespass that they have trespassed against thee.

Daniel 9:8 O Lord, to us belongeth confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against thee.

Daniel 9:9 To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgivenesses, though we have rebelled against him;

Daniel 9:10 Neither have we obeyed the voice of the LORD our God, to walk in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets.

Daniel 9:11 Yea, all Israel have transgressed thy law, even by departing, that they might not obey thy voice; therefore the curse is poured upon us, and the oath that is written in the law of Moses the servant of God, because we have sinned against him.

Daniel 9:12 And he hath confirmed his words, which he spake against us, and against our judges that judged us, by bringing upon us a great evil: for under the whole heaven hath not been done as hath been done upon Jerusalem.

Daniel 9:13 As it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil is come upon us: yet made we not our prayer before the LORD our God, that we might turn from our iniquities, and understand thy truth.

Daniel 9:14 Therefore hath the LORD watched upon the evil, and brought it upon us: for the LORD our God is righteous in all his works which he doeth: for we obeyed not his voice.

Daniel 9:15 And now, O Lord our God, that hast brought thy people forth out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and hast gotten thee renown, as at this day; we have sinned, we have done wickedly.

Daniel 9:16 O Lord, according to all thy righteousness, I beseech thee, let thine anger and thy fury be turned away from thy city Jerusalem, thy holy mountain: because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and thy people are become a reproach to all that are about us.

Daniel 9:17 Now therefore, O our God, hear the prayer of thy servant, and his supplications, and cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary that is desolate, for the Lord's sake.

Daniel 9:18 O my God, incline thine ear, and hear; open thine eyes, and behold our desolations, and the city which is called by thy name: for we do not present our supplications before thee for our righteousnesses, but for thy great mercies.

Daniel 9:19 O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive; O Lord, hearken and do; defer not, for thine own sake, O my God: for thy city and thy people are called by thy name.

Daniel 9:20 And whiles I was speaking, and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the LORD my God for the holy mountain of my God;

Daniel 9:21 Yea, whiles I was speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation.

Daniel 9:22 And he informed me, and talked with me, and said, O Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding.

Daniel 9:23 At the beginning of thy supplications the commandment came forth, and I am come to shew thee; for thou art greatly beloved: therefore understand the matter, and consider the vision.

Daniel 9:24 Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.

Daniel 9:25 Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.

Daniel 9:26 And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.

Daniel 9:27 And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.




Monday, December 20, 2010

Glory to God in the Highest!

And on Earth...





Peace, Good will toward men!

Thursday, December 16, 2010

A Lament for the blind condition of Israel.

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem...




O come, O come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel!

O come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free
Thine own from Satan's tyranny;
From depths of hell Thy people save
And give them vict'ry o'er the grave.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel!

O come, Thou Dayspring, come and cheer
Our spirits by Thine advent here;
And drive away the shades of night,
And pierce the clouds and bring us light!
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel!

O come, Thou Key of David, come,
And open wide our heav'nly home;
Make safe the way that leads on high,
And close the path to misery.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel!


One day, God promises to open their eyes to the Messiah's work upon the earth. Until then, it is appropriate to long for the coming of the Messiah into the hearts of captive Israel. Captive in blind unbelief, for the most part. God has a purpose in it. God is still revealing Himself in and through them upon the earth and they are not anihilated, Halleluia. Rejoice, Rejoice that Christ has come to save Jew and Gentile, alike.

Saturday, December 4, 2010

Woes in the Old Testament were truly Woes!


There was no hope for the people, whose God was not the Lord. The blood of bulls and goats couldn't even cleanse the people who were trying to obey the Lord. It seemed a blind and oblique, slow death for the godly and the ungodly. Jesus was trying to show the disciples this, Many prophets came into the world, but there was none greater than John the Baptist. Yet he who is least in the kingdom is better than he. Even the prophets were looking at life and their present, not to mention the futures of the nations through a dark, scary kaleidoscope. Then, Jesus came into the pictures. Joy to the World! The angels got it! We are reaping the harvest of the nations who come to God through Christ. It wasn't all for naught! It wasn't just a bunch of souls heading to a dire destruction. Many did, for sure. But now, in Christ, we are a new creation and we have the opportunity to build our children's souls to pass on traditions that will solidify the fear of God to our next generations. What a wonderful privilege, to raise the next generation to love and serve the Lord. It is not up for grabs. It is not chance. God calculatedly set His love upon us. He is attempting to inherit our future generations by our casting our traditions into the pot of His good pleasure. Praising God with our lives and our habits. Spiritual healthy habits of love and good works. Taking captivity captive unto the submission to the God of the universe. He has displayed and given us the revelation of His heart in His Word and we have the opportunity of committing our ways and the traditions that we teach to our children that God may inherit our future generations, as He puts it. He has translated His will into human in Christ and made a way for us to come to Him. He has no respect of persons. The wise men came from far. The shepherds came from the fields. The angels rejoiced in heaven and we are redeemed, who trust in Him for salvation. There is no better gift than that.

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Monday, November 29, 2010

Why does a live Church talk?

Many times, in the pre live state of my soul, I wondered why Christians must fellowship before service. I wondered why must they enjoy one another's company so. I was really jealous that I thought that my silence was the reality of solemnity. That my silence was reverent. God showed me otherwise. I thank you God that I am not like these talkers who must chatter before You when they should be reverent. God showed me the silence of the dead and the sound of the wailing that is prefaced by the silence of the damned. Those that do not know Him, have no care about what someone else is doing next to them, whether there is a crying or needy soul that needs tending to, or not. The normal human courtesies are missing from the sitting, supposed sullen and silent majority. God is not impressed by silence, nor by noise. But, He does condemn the judgmental heart that puts the worst construction on the bleating of the sheep of His pasture. A real shepherd knows what each bleat means and a real shepherd knows what the silence means. It means that they are dead. God bless the noise of the loving of one another.

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Proverbs 24

Truly it is a sad thing to see the land of the man who is void of understanding. Seeing the thorns and the thistles heaping over the walls and the breaking down of the protective elements, walls. A little sleep... Obvious that the person is left desolate in the day of want. I remember seeing some of the most exciting scenes in some of the Disney movies is when the Prince takes his effort and his sword and hacks at the overwhelming thorns and thistles that envelope the Princess. What a picture of deliverance. The position of being enveloped by the thorns and thistles is certainly a sad condition and oft times lethal, but the spiritual thorns and thistles have much more eternal consequence.
I passed by the soul of the man void of understanding and it was overgrown with thorns and thistles. Ignorance and confusion had enveloped his soul and he was blind to his spiritual condition. He was entertaining himself with much distraction and completely unaware of the place where he is in truth.
I remember my Grandmother's face, every time that I came over, after she had been diagnosed with cancer. Am I going to Hell? She would ask me. I said, Grandma, I can't tell you that. You must believe on the Lord, Jesus Christ. I can't tell you, where you are going. We hardly think about our eternal condition until we are peering through the window of eternity. Heaping teachers to ourselves that will tell us what we want to hear, doesn't make us right. God knows if our spiritual wall is collapsing. God knows if our hearts are toward Him or toward our own comforts. We keep educating the rich young people to preach what we want to hear. Am I going to heaven? We ask these young people. Let me tell you that we know we are missing the mark in this. God will hold us accountable for every poor but godly man that has been muzzled, by the condition of the Church in our day. The condition of that kind of laziness is eternally lethal. God knows that He has created the godly for the day of evil. Help us Lord to see the truth that You have exposed to us in this day.
Proverbs 24: 30-34-I went by the field of the slothful, and by the vineyard of the man void of understanding;
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And, lo, it was all grown over with thorns, and nettles had covered the face thereof, and the stone wall thereof was broken down.
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]
Then I saw, and considered it well: I looked upon it, and received instruction.
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Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep:
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So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth; and thy want as an armed man

Sunday, November 21, 2010

And, Can It Be?


As icing on the cake{as it were}, as if grace would flow upon grace, on top of the presence of God with us on earth, we have more communion with Him to anticipate in glory. After the presence of God being with us through life, we still have eternity to gain. I should gain this? I should enjoy the life with God upon earth and still have heaven to look forward to? Yes, because of the grace and mercy of the gracious and condescending Savior. No one is too poor or too rich to have communion with Him. He excludes none from His communion on account of their station. I can know Him now and still have more communion to anticipate.
Some teachers seem to make knowing Christ an unattainable task, but I think that the Old Testament saints prove to us that God is more willing to commune with us than we are to seek Him. Every kind of people and every kind of sin is cleansed, by the Blood of Jesus, when confessed and forsaken. Cleanse us, Lord, draw us nearer to Thee and keep our eyes fixed upon the glories to be gained, continuing to walk with You. Do not allow the deceits of this world to cloud our vision.

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Rediscovering The Christian Manifesto!

It was Francis Schaeffer's 70th birthday in 1982, the version of the Bible Hour that featured his most famous of sermons. I have heard it many times over the years, but today, it was timely to me. In the light of a new generation of family, represented by the Prince having engaged, Kathryn to be his bride; I feel challenged to identify the enemies of soul and family anew and engage my soul in the focus upon the fight for the true values that create and congeal the family unit. In Christ, God stands with those true core values. Francis Schaeffer identified some of them, in spiritually uncovering the enemies, in our country that crush or eradicate life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
This is the 3rd of 3. All are worth listening to.

Saturday, November 6, 2010

I am always awed by the beautiful and civil way that our forefathers left us to express our differences.


I love the voting and democratic process. It was Teddy Roosevelt who went to England and said that the concept of a King was so repugnant to him that if he had to live there, he should have to kill the king, to take over. How does one govern such a bunch of pugnacious independants, as we Americans are?
I think that the voting process takes our Adamic natures into consideration.We want a part in our own governing. Honoring our parents, in our nation, means voting and being willing to follow the protocol in the decisions that may, at times seem so capricious, in that they are decided, nearly by lot. Can that be civilized that we don't know who or what will govern us next? Of the people, by the people, for the people is what we have instituted and continue. I think it is, not only glorious and wise, but God glorifying. People are what they are and they will make mistakes and mess up and some sort of checks and balances must remain for them. The American people, may not all be Christians, but many pray and then vote and we trust God's guidance to a system which is {without a God} very dangerous. The safety of the system is the God whose hands we depend on, when we cast our vote. Monarchs are the image of God in His Glory, Republics are the image of man in his humility, shut up to...the system? God of the system.
Honor your father and mother...That it may be well with you.

Thursday, November 4, 2010

The day after the "revolution"--The Republican Takeover?

I am so encouraged at looking at the imprecatory Psalm 35 with Pastor Boice. So much of the power of the Word of God is evident in that Psalm, which we never sing and we never really meditate on much, because it is so repugnant to our redeemed humanity, or should be and so convenient for us, in our wrath and anger, to identify with. The fact and the reality of conflicts and enemies of our souls is the first truth, on the surface of the passage. We are always going to have conflicts to assuage, dissuade, or navigate around, or through. Like storms, the truth of conflict and enemies is consistent. I see, how God gave David, leave and encouragement to write his heart toward his enemies and allowed and preserved it for us, by the Holy Spirit for our good and profit and instruction. I think that it is obvious that because David was a man of prayer and meditation, the expressions of his anger and wrath were mixed with mercy, because he allowed God to touch his anger through prayer. When we allow God to deal with our sinful anger, in private, we can be convinced that we will not act in the full extent of our sinfulness. { I.} “The wrath of man cannot glorify God.” God gives us clear instruction on what should be the first thing that we should do with our anger. “Take it to Jesus. Tell it to Jesus. He’s a friend that is well known.” Perhaps tell it to Jesus alone, perhaps tell it to Jesus and then act on it. Pastor Boice's helpful sermon today

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

FOR--Isaiah-9:6

Isaiah 9:6
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

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Isaiah 9:7
Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.

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Isaiah 9:8
The Lord sent a word into Jacob, and it hath lighted upon Israel.

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Isaiah 9:9
And all the people shall know, even Ephraim and the inhabitant of Samaria, that say in the pride and stoutness of heart,

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Isaiah 9:10
The bricks are fallen down, but we will build with hewn stones: the sycomores are cut down, but we will change them into cedars.

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Isaiah 9:11
Therefore the LORD shall set up the adversaries of Rezin against him, and join his enemies together;

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Isaiah 9:12
The Syrians before, and the Philistines behind; and they shall devour Israel with open mouth. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.






What an unusual place for God to put this most comforting passage. It looks like all is lost, in the early parts of Isaiah. Judgement and sad circumstance for the people of God, but there is a treasure, a real treasure the likes of which only heaven can calculate. I can hear the angels singing this portion when they were speaking to the shepherds at the birth of the Messiah. Earth is calculating the losses and Heaven is calculating the gain. I see the angels passing these wonders to each other as we would pass money. "Wonderful" on earth? "Counsellor" in human form? "Mighty God"? "Everlasting Father"? They divide the knowledge of the true riches, while we calculate the riches upon earth...Halleluia, What a Savior"

Saturday, October 30, 2010

Let God be true!



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Isaiah 9:13
For the people turneth not unto him that smiteth them, neither do they seek the LORD of hosts.
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Isaiah 9:14
Therefore the LORD will cut off from Israel head and tail, branch and rush, in one day.
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Isaiah 9:15
The ancient and honourable, he is the head; and the prophet that teacheth lies, he is the tail.
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Isaiah 9:16
For the leaders of this people cause them to err; and they that are led of them are destroyed.
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Will we be the ancient and instructors who God will have to cut off, because we have not taught our children to honor? God brings the impotent and permissive parents to naught, who have not used His Word to instruct their children enough to keep them from Euthenasia. If the generation believes thus, it is the lack of the instruction of the ancient and the honorable. I had elders in our family who taught us to fear their word and their activity. I remember the sense of fear in my soul, in their presence, in the nursing home. How old were you in that picture, Aunt Iva? They were about to jump out of the wheel chairs, the three of them and smack me sore. I was not aware that I was insulting them by that question until it came out of my mouth. That is the power of the Word of God, being brought to bear on a young soul from its earliest moments. Children Honor! They are not right. They do not deserve worship or allegiance or camaraderie, if their deeds do not warrant it. But Honor, yes! God would stand by them, even in their wrongness. They were right in that one thing. Keep the children learning from the Word of God, or they will rise to kill you themselves. God will use your permissiveness as His own pruning hook to take down the bush of that nation who thinks that it is better than God to use other means to instruct children. We have taken over the air waves and inherited the wind, but only the meek will inherit the earth. God, have mercy on our generation for taking the Word of God for sport and the principalities of man for the instruction of our little ones. Do not give us over to our own wicked devices. Grant that our children will find You in the Corn maze that we have built, through the ignorance of Your ways. Don’t take us down like You have the children of Israel, the head and the tail in one day. Though we have many prophets and teachers, who speak lies and deceptions in our day, give us and our children eyes to see through the lies. Give us the love for You, to see Your light, through the lies that they purport as Your Word. Give the children a respect for their elders and teachers, though it has been subverted by the idols of the age that we live in.

I have tried to keep my children from the power of Babylon in the worldly system, but they have overtaken me. Have mercy upon me, sending them out to the idol worship den. Have mercy on their souls, though they learn the way of godlessness, before they even have the power to resist it.
Thank God for the teachers and administrators who attempt to inject God's principles into a system that is set against His Word.

Friday, October 29, 2010

As the Post War Generation, I think that sometimes we lose sight of the importance of battle.

When I watch the old movies with Errol Flynn and Earnest Borgnine, etc. I am caught with the shrewdness of men with a cause that is above themselves. I think that the me generation has made us individualistic and constant in our pursuit of the self benefit of any, if not all exercises. God, has also shown Himself to us, as we have to Him, hidden, if we are seeking Him for self and found only in the selfless endeavoring to promote His good and His glory. The taking of prisoners into the bottom of a ship and using them for the effort of a goal in the antithesis of their desired aim, we call slavery. Cultures in, earlier days used this means to accumulate wealth and vanquish foes. God, will certainly not be our slave. He is our goal and purpose and promises to be found by those who seek Him, with their hearts.
God has shown that His purpose and intention of His heart is the promotion and sustenance of His Bride the church upon the earth. We are His people and the sheep of His pasture when we work on His behalf. I am afraid that so many, as Jesus says will be found in those days confessing their allegiance with Christ and hearing Him say, I don't nor did I know you. A sad state for those, living unrepentant lives. Those whose aims were mixed, if not wholly devoted to self interest.
Use us, Lord to paddle for Your glory, though, if need be in the remotest part of the lowest part of the hull of Your ship, if it be the one headed for Heaven. Allow us not to be deceived in the wide road of the self interest guru's. Help us paddle to Heaven for the good of Your Bride and for the glory of Your Name.
Straighten our course, with every prayer, Let Heaven's breezes lead us there. And grant us mercy ever more, As we sail to Heaven's shores

Monday, October 25, 2010

Acappella!

Breathing in unison, is what happens in Acappella music. I do remember the first experience that I had learning to harmonize in a choir, to the glory of God. Not for my own glory. "I sing well and I want people to hear me" was my thought, before the grace of God arrested me. I sang in Church, about the same way that I sang at family celebrations. Joy and exuberance, but not for the glory of the Good and Merciful God.
I told my children of Becky. She stands as a memorable influence in my soul, teaching my soul to sing, in unison, for God, not for me. We had devotionals, we sang to worship God, in rehearsal meetings on Friday nights and although I had to fight and argue to get to rehearsal from my parents not agreeing with my choice of becoming Protestant, much less, Pentecostal. God would meet me, after the long battles and arguments with my parents, instructing and comforting my soul. I cried unto God with my whole heart there. Becky would wait for us, until we have sounded like we have cast our cares upon the Lord, before we would even begin our rehearsal. God spoke peace into my soul and mind that was close to being lost altogether. "Never Alone...", God used the songs of those days to remind me that the battle for my mind and my soul was His to fight. I often forgot and took up my emotional swords and picked doctrinal fights of some sort or another and felt the piercings, both of conscience and of spanks for my rebellion.
It was at rehearsal that we learned to pray and fast and seek the face of God in prayer and Acappella. Acappella, not without music, but breathing together, to God's glory. Breathing out blessings to the Great God of Glory. Breathing out worship to the most High.
Sometimes, Becky would hold her nose, when we were at some church or another, meaning that is totally off key. Harmonies are not what they ought to be, somebody is loud and strong and wrong. Check yourself. There was little more embarrassing than seeing Becky's disgruntled face, because we were off. One time, we were singing after a fast of convocation and a few of the young people fainted from weakness and fatigue. God doesn't demand such a sacrifice from His young people, but it is refreshing where you can find a bunch of young people devoted to serving the Lord and putting away their idols.
I remember the spiritual battles, what to sing to myself, when walking through the city. The power of all of the pop music that I had committed to memory and now I was taking captivity captive in the imaginations of my mind. Becky was a tool in the hand of God to teach me the struggle of the principalities and powers that had nearly taken my soul into Hell, if left to themselves. God had graciously redeemed my soul and now was tuning my heart to sing His praise. Becky and the YFC was the tuning fork. Bong!, no,Bong! no.
I don't know what people do without a Becky to tune their hearts. Mine was a severe case of music sickness, I can't say that I will ever be rid of this sickness, but, still I tune my heart and rise above my untoward past to try to glorify God!

Acappella.
Glad

Friday, October 22, 2010

Does God want to go to church with you?

Psalm 78:60 He abandoned the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent he had set up among men. 61 He sent [the ark of] his might into captivity, his splendor into the hands of the enemy


Psalm 78 recounts the relationship with God and His people. The blessings and difficulties of His putting up with a people for His own posession. In the new covenant we enjoy His abiding presence, but still, must remember that we can encourage the presence of the Lord in peace and unity or we can grieve the Spirit of God, by our behavior and shamefulness.
I often think about going to church to meet with God, but, this morning I saw the gathering of God's people as the place where God goes to meet us. Are we there to meet Him, in truth? Does He want to be there with us? God cannot enter into a lie or the congregation of those who are consistent and unrepentant in their sins. God is alone praised and God is, alone the Way, the Truth and the Life. He can be among us in His wrath,or in His love, as we have seen in different eras of the church. Do we want Him here?
Come, Holy Ghost in Love, shine on us from above, Thine own bright ray,
We sing. I imagine that what makes God want to be with us, is our longing for Him. We need Your presence Lord, I imagine makes Him say, they are looking for me to be there. I cannot miss this time with them, I imagine Him saying. Shame on us, if we cannot notice the presence or absence of the Lord among us. The doctrine of the Laodicean era makes people comfortable at the absence of God in their worship. We can go to church and know that if God missed it, it is because we are lukewarm. The fact that people can believe such a thing and still go to church is beyond me.
Come, Holy God and blessed, Our most desired guest...Grant us we pray

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Praise, my soul the King of Heaven. By Henry Lyte

Praise, my soul, the King of heaven,
To His feet thy tribute bring;
Ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven,
Who, like me, His praise should sing?
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Praise the Everlasting King!

Praise Him for His grace and favor
To our fathers in distress;
Praise Him, still the same forever,
Slow to chide, and swift to bless.
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Glorious in His faithfulness!

Father-like, He tends and spares us;
Well our feeble frame He knows,
In His hands He gently bears us,
Rescues us from all our foes.
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Widely as His mercy flows!

Angels, help us to adore Him,
Ye behold Him face to face;
Sun and moon, bow down before Him;
Dwellers all in time and space,
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Praise with us the God of grace!

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

What if I have a persistent "ought"?

If you have ought against your brother...leave your gift on the altar and go and be reconciled to your brother!"


Lord, I pray, in spite of the persistent oughts in my soul. I pray that You would receive my offering.

Friday, October 1, 2010

Stallwart Soldier's Birthday!


Years of time spent trying to understand this man, much my senior and finding that I had grown to love him immensely. Home, sweet Home he would say, as we pulled into the garage to carry him home. I remember my youthful zeal to try to serve him in his elderly crankiness and his cultural differences from me. Can I understand this great man who has 10 men reared and I am just a child. I cried many tears of misunderstanding. I will never get it. I will never understand. I will never please him. That was true. But God put him in my life for me and not for him. I do understand that now. His words chime back to me, as much as my own father's. "Let Jesus lead you... All De way!"

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Things that the Scripture tell us, grieve the Holy Spirit.

It seems that we think of the doctrinal things that grieve God. Believing wrong things about Him. Relational problems, are the number one thing on God's grievance list. "Do not give place to the Devil" Anger, wrath, malice...etc. These, of God's grievances create walls of division in the people of God. I was imagining that, if the Church of Christ is like His garment, whose "train fills the temple" and we are like the tassels. Imagine if I decide to build a wall between myself and the tassel next to me. It messes up the garment. It simply cannot be, that there is a wall. We tear God's fabric and make a hole in the train. Shame on us. God has to stop what He is doing, to repair the beautiful fabric of His presence on the earth. That is the picture that I was getting on Sunday, when the choir was singing.
We don't want God to treat us, like Igor {You rang!}; "Present with us", only in form and remembrance. We want a current, alive, empassioned relationship, between God and His Church. We don't want God to show us His absence, which is just a palpable as His presence. I will seek Your face, O Lord, should be the cry of our hearts. His commitment to emote and show Himself is to His Church and we should be the ones who want to know Him. Don't let me be the tassel that has a hole in the garment by building a wall.

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

When my heart is overwhelmed!


I guess the fact that I almost died seven years ago and the thin line between acceptance and rejoicing that that didn't happen took a hold of me. God's worship is the place where I can cry out to Him.
It was interesting to me that the infinite Holy Spirit can also be grieved. I saw the progression of grief and grieving in my own soul and the parallel with how the Spirit has dealt with His Church through Church History. I call this the "death of Athenasius" The first step was the acceptance and love of the Holy Spirit in Worship. Like a young couple, spontaneous worship donns the communion of God's people. Then, we grieve Him. What will we do? So often, we replace the spontaneous worship of God with instructions. We make people do what the Holy Spirit makes them do. Stand and worship Him. We command and then we instruct and then we implore and then the silence of death is left, because we have gotten comfortable, with our sins. Carrying the grieving of the Holy Spirit into our worship. God, cleanse us and help us know the spontanaity of alive worship and the Love that God who enters into the worship of His loving people. Death of worship is allowing other generations alone to pen the works of the Lord. We have no new words, like the dictionary in Latin the canon of hymns is closed, because we have grieved the Holy Spirit and tell God what we will say to Him.
Enliven our worship and comfort our hearts to know that You are owning our worship. We love You Lord and we would worship in Spirit and in Truth.

Sunday, September 12, 2010

A consideration of the blinding power of grief.


Grief and loss are a blinding power. I do know this first hand. I am never so blind to the goodness of God or senseless of His comforts, as when paralyzed in my grief. When I even look in the direction of grief, it is as though a deerlike paralasis, as when a car's lights have it in sway, comes over me and I am stuck careening into its abyss. The best advice that I have found for such an emotional and spiritual weight and distress, has been from Pastor Martin. He said look at all of the things that happen, through the cross. As though the cross were stamped upon your eyes. Christ’s sacrifice is the only thing that makes sense, until the by and by and until the emotional sickness of grief is past or strengthened.

That is the only thing that makes sense in blinding grief, is that Jesus paid it all for my soul. Everything else is blurry under the weights of grief.
I love, Melody Green’s song, Do I trust You? That is always the question. Am I going to be one of those who trust You under the weight of pain of loss. Hold on to the unchanging hand of Jesus. He is holding tight to my hand when my eyes are swollen from the tears and my strength is gone from trying to trust.

Do I trust You? I can’t relate to these people who only know of the victorious chants of everything being in their favor. I praise God, in spite of His piercing providences. The sacrifice of praise glorifies God, as well as the praise in goodly circumstances. The difference between a human relationship with God and an angelic relationship, they never have their wills gone against, those angels, which are God’s.
We have the experience of being disappointed by God’s providences and still having to love and trust Him, even in our disappointments.

Having the will to love and trust and praise Him, when our hearts and minds are full of questions of His love and care. Having to trust what He has said when everything looks bleak is a human relationship with God. That is the mutuality that God intended in the making of man in His own image. As mutual as one can get to mutual with a supreme and fully sovereign being. In Christ we have the ability to converse and hear from God and learn to love Him, even, in the “fellowship of suffering” there is only looking at the difficulty of 9-11 through the lens of the cross of Christ. Are You Good, Lord, when suffering comes to my city, to my neighbors and to me? The demons always say no. The angels always say yes. They see the heavenly perspective. It is intensely human to question and seek the Lord’s face and will in suffering. We are not robots and God didn’t want that. Thy face, o Lord will I seek, was the sentiment of David that made him a man after God’s own heart. Are You good, when I am in distress, Lord? David didn’t say yes or no, he said let me see. I am seeking Your face in this, Dear Lord, show Yourself strong. Show Yourself, loving. Show Yourself, longsuffering. Show Yourself, who You are. That is the example of the difference between faith and unbelief. Unbelief, justifies self, in the face of God. I am…good? I am…great? Taking on the justification of self.

What is grace for? Surely we will learn what grace is for, as we sail to heaven’s shores. Pastor Martin was the only Pastor that I heard say that we will fight and struggle, with sometimes little to show for our labors, if would make heaven our aim. He is the only one who had a comfort for me in the loss of all dear ones in some season or other, though he didn’t have a clue that those encouragements were for me. God is our Heavenly Coach and He is more interested in drawing out growth than in maintaining the status quo. The greater our responsibility the more that we will stumble and weep and struggle over our ailments of soul. God, please give me grace to stand for You, amidst my responsibilities. The more children? The more relatives? The more advantage, the more gains, the more money, the more influence…etc. God has people in every sphere who are being called to live for Him. Can I live for Him in the job that I have? Can I live for Him with the amount of responsibility that I have. Seek my Face is God’s invitation. Your Face, O Lord will I seek should be our answer. I can’t see how God could use me to live for Him, in my responsibility. That is everybody’s answer. Anybody who can see the whole way on, is lying. Can I live in communion with Christ, in my family, with my life and the mess that I am living in and the consequences of the life that I am sowing. Seek My Face is the answer God gives. Your Face will I seek. Seeking wisdom, where wisdom is needed, seeking guidance, where guidance is needed. Seeking patience and the fruit of the Spirit where needed. The devil says, You can’t do it. You might as well give it up. Satan, get thee behind me. 5 bleeding wounds He bears, received on Calvary, they pour effectual prayers, they strongly plead for me.
My conscience must be cleansed by the blood of Jesus. I must live in the light and communion with God, in the light of His efficacious sacrifice. Cry and weep, the loss was very great for us on 9-11. Generations before put their grief into movies and poems and songs. We are speechless. God is good, even when we look at our grief in the face and can’t see past the smoke and the soot. Help us Lord, to clean up our world and give it to our children better, safer, more considerate, or, at the very least, more conscious of sin and salvation through Christ. We are not omnipotent. But we can be conscientious, caring, thoughtful, courageous, prayerful, consistent and God-fearing people. That doesn’t mean that we have to look like wierdos, just regular people whose tears flow, when the numbers 9-11 come on the screen. Who will never live to see a day when we pray that that plane isn’t going to crash. Who try to do what we can to trust God with what is left to us of time and strength. Who fear God and try to do right.




Storms may rise on seas unknown
While we journey towards our home
Surely we'll learn what grace if for
As we sail to heaven's shore

Send us strength O pilgrim guide
Sin would drown us in its tide
Be close at hand and go before
As we sail to heaven's shore

Holy Spirit lead us on
Give us courage bring the song

Lord we trust Your Father's care
Will convey us safely there
Open or seal off every door
As we sail to heaven's shore

Straighten our course with every prayer
Let heaven's breezes speed us there
And grant us mercy evermore
As we sail to heaven's shore

Draw us near O finest Friend
From dawn's light to evening's end
Each passing day we love You more
As we sail to heaven's shore
As we sail to heaven's shore

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

The Center of the Worship Service is Worship!






















Worship is to God! Worship is for God. God speaks to us in worship. God deigns to own our worship, if He would, but the center of worship is not preaching, it is worship. Preaching is when we look to God, in worship. But we ascribe glory to God in singing and reading and prayer and all of that together is worship. "The Spirit and the Bride say...Come!" Them that come to God must believe that He is and is the rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. Seeking Him, will have some great portion of receiving preaching, but it will first be giving Him the glory. We sometimes think that our contribution is the greatest, when we are, either the "singer" or the "preacher". Neither is preeminent. Worship, is the greatest portion of worship. The Father seeks such to worship Him in spirit and in truth. God grant us eyes to see that when we ascribe the glory to You and receive Your ownership of our worship and fellowship with us; as we give or render worship to God, we will be transformed from our self-serving attitude to an attitude that wants to please You and not just do what is comfortable to our flesh.
What shall I render, unto God for all of His benefits...I will take the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord. Halleluia what a Savior!

Friday, September 3, 2010

...On earth, as it is in Heaven?--"Help us Lord!"


That does mean order. I am not always consistently under authority to my husband as I ought. Nor, am I able to order my ways, even just under my own schedule, but that is what I pray for, in the Lord's prayer. Help me Lord to make my children go to bed and do their homework and do the thing necessary in a timely and wise fashion. Help me to look at how You do things when I am making my schedule and process those things in the right priority. Help me not to let a disgruntled attitude get me so out of sorts that I can't lay the law down with the children and myself. This is the Lord's Prayer that I pray.

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Our Father, who art in Heaven! A link to Mt.6;9


I am blessed at the meditation of God being our Heavenly Father. We worship God, who is infinitely above us in wisdom and power and glory and yet, condescended to purchase our sonship and daughtership with Him. What an amazing love that is! How can You be so above us and want to be our Father? How can You pay so huge a price for something so seemingly minute to us?
How important is the relationship of parenting to God, if He would send the beloved Son of His Bosom to pay for an adoption for reprobates? Thank God for redemption.
Truly Hallowed, is His name.

The Holy Spirit speaks to my heart, this morning, that these words that we say, nearly thoughtlessly, contain the most important truth in the universe. God loves us, enough to want to be called Our Father. God loves us enough to teach us to call Him, Our Father. God paid it all for this to become so, in Christ. Halleluia!


Matthew6:9

Friday, July 16, 2010

The Scriptures allow us to watch what makes a grown man cry.












































2 Samuel 1: 19"The beauty of Israel is slain on your high places! How the mighty have fallen! 20 Tell it not in Gath, Proclaim it not in the streets of Ashkelon-- Lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, Lest the daughters of the uncircumcised triumph. 21 "O mountains of Gilboa, Let there be no dew nor rain upon you, Nor fields of offerings. For the shield of the mighty is cast away there! The shield of Saul, not anointed with oil. 22 From the blood of the slain, From the fat of the mighty, The bow of Jonathan did not turn back, And the sword of Saul did not return empty. 23 "Saul and Jonathan were beloved and pleasant in their lives, And in their death they were not divided; They were swifter than eagles, They were stronger than lions. 24 "O daughters of Israel, weep over Saul, Who clothed you in scarlet, with luxury; Who put ornaments of gold on your apparel. 25 "How the mighty have fallen in the midst of the battle! Jonathan was slain in your high places. 26 I am distressed for you, my brother Jonathan; You have been very pleasant to me; Your love to me was wonderful, Surpassing the love of women. 27 "How the mighty have fallen, And the weapons of war perished!"



I do love the faith that makes David weep aloud and yet with hope in the most High God that comforts will come. God allows us a peek into the heart of a man with humble love for God and those around him. In a large family, our hearts can become calloused to love and aloof from real relationships. Like riches, family has a way of insulating you from outside and real relationships. The fact that we do not read of David's grief for other family members, in scripture and that God allows us to see the love that penned this lament makes me try to translate some of the sentiments that I see in him to my own mind.
Perhaps they are jaded with my own experiences of loss, and being a woman, but it helps me to think that God is teaching us to continue to love, in spite of loss.

David's lament for Jonathan.

Can I say how I have loved my brother? My heart is broken, broken. The world must know. The sky is dark and the streets are empty for my beloved brother has left this earth. We laughed and cried and hoped together. It does seem too soon, I cry. I loved my brother, I cannot think of anything that I loved better than that. To see that father and son team in extravagant embraces, was beyond the reach of my earthly relationships. I loved Jonathan as a brother and he loved me as well. He is gone and my heart weeps aloud for the loss, from this earth. My heart would leap when I would see your face. There was little delight on earth but the safety of your friendship. Others have had ulterior motives and mocking glances, but never Jonathan. Others have been fans or onlookers, but, never Jonathan. He saw through the facades. He loved in the realm of earth. Where it cost him dearly. He loved me whether the earth approved or not. I loved him whether life allowed or not. I had thought that we would see these days together and dandle our children and affect Israel together. I had thought that one more time, I would be comforted in the glance and embrace of my brother. I had thought that war would have spared me my one treasure. The love and delight of my heart. I am broken at the thought of going on into the future, without that love to comfort me. Father and mother aside and apart, God has given me the comfort of one true friend. One true love, one true brother and I will ever remember that God was faithful to delight my soul with this. Everyone should be crying because the world was a more royal and beautiful place, with the regal and magnificence that Saul allowed us to enjoy. Everyone should be mourning for we have all lost heroes and mighty ones in the battle. But I above all. I lost hero and king. I lost friend and enemy and family. But more, I have lost the closest brother and friend that I had in the world. I have known that God would comfort me in all of my distresses. I have known that the darkest valleys, God embraces and comforts me. Comfort me, in this dark valley, Lord. God, give hope and help and restore my heart from the pieces that it collapses from, this day. My dearest one is gone. My brother is lost. My love feels bereft.



an imaginary letter from Jonathan to David, found after his passing


(Aug 11, 2005)
The death of Jonathan, eternally the loving friend of David!

My dearest David,

The battle has been especially fierce lately and although my courage is high, fear is just under the surface, lately. I so long for those days when we were fighting shoulder to shoulder and fear seemed so far away. I had never before seen a man with such an abandonment to the will of God as you were in our youth. Golliath was immense and fierce and you were a little squirt and didn’t even flinch from fear as the rest of us.
I must confess that I never thought you’d succeed but when you did, you gained my unfailing devotion.
As a man, I thought there could never be one who would impress me in this life. In the freedom of faith and the love of God, you hurled the stone that callapsed 2 giants in my life, Golliath,one and my father, the other. I honor my father, but lived under the shame of my never living up to his expectations. His stinging and crushing dissappointment in me had become the giant of my life and with the blow of Golliath to the ground and the songs that spread of your fame, you helped me to see him as fallible and human. I will never be able to thank you enough for that.

I wanted you to become king! I love the spirit of God that empowered you in everything that you do. I know that it was God because of how it freed me! When we die in one of these battles, whether today or tomorrow, know that I had to stand next to you for just a moment of my life in order to feel strong. David has truly killed his 10,000’s and my support has always been for you. I love you more than I have ever loved anyone in my life and I am grateful to God to have had the privilege of loving you. I simply could never tell you how healing to my soul your love has been. Thank you!
Jon


Remember the day that you came into our house and we became close friends. I never imagined that we would live to see the day that my father would agree with me that you were golden. He really does agree with me now. When we were fighting today he said to me that this is the kind of battle you wish you had a Dave at your right hand. And I know that he meant that. We both love you. I wish that I could’ve lived to see your kingdom prosper and flourish as I am sure it will, but it is enough for me to have loved you. I hope that I have encouraged you a little in this life as you have me. You are a genuine friend. A man among men who introduced me to prayer and praise. I am still repeating that one that you showed me about Jehovah being my shepherd. Only you could have written that one. I didn’t mean to laugh when I read it, but it seemed funny that a poor little fellow could see Jehovah as being so very big in his life. I have had every luxury and my vision of Jehovah had been clouded by this sense of inadequacy and hopelessness. You made me see Jehovah as larger than my father and my love of Him has grown as my love of you has grown. Truly, I am like the little sheep that were in your care as a child and Jehovah has shepherded my soul in many valleys. My grief for your continued distance from our family has taken a toll on my body and soul and some days I cry from morning to night desiring some hymn of comfort, to which I had grown so accustomed. Jehovah comes, in spirit, to comfort me.
I do remember what a knack you have for rejoicing. I need some of that mirth right now. I wish you were here to tell me a joke. Gloom seems to be as thick as peanut butter. Why do the nations rage? You would say. These things don’t seem like they will pass. I long for peace. The losses are mounting and sometimes it gets to me. Knowing that Jehovah will collect our souls to the fathers is something that I learned from you. I still sing that little song in the morning that you sent for my birthday. Where shall we indeed go from His spirit? He is even here in the darkness of the sheol of war. With His hand he will indeed save me! I can find some comfort in that
.
It seemed my greatest comfort to have had a hope to do my duty and die next to you in the battle. Jehovah has denied me that, but as I look into eternity with the hopes of the comforts of Abrahamic covenant, it seems that I will miss you even there. Earth has no sorrow, that heaven cannot cure. I do pray that God would be merciful to me, as you have… My soul trusts in the shadow of his wings and I know that He is the most high… I am looking to Him,to come from Heaven to save me; but it is very hard when the battle rages as it is. My soul also is among lions and those very ravenous and rejoicing, already over our souls. My heart is fixed, O God… I too, am trying to awaken my praise because the mercy of God is so great He is to be exalted above all the earth and even over the shame of this kind of a death…

I pray that you would find this with my belongings and know that we thought of you, even here.

Sunday, July 4, 2010

The Star Spangled


The Star Spangled Banner
Oh say can you see, by the dawn’s early light,
What, so proudly we hail, at the twilights last gleaming,
Whose broad stripes and bright stars,
Through the barrenest night,
O’er the ramparts we watch, were so gallantly streaming,
And the rockets red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night, that our flag was still there.
Oh say, does that star spangled banner, yet wave?
O’er the land of the free, and the home of the brave!

Oh Say, Does that Star Spangled Banner Yet Wave?

Is it still there? Are we still, the land of the free and the home of the brave?
There are 2 questions there. One, is the question of the banner waving. That is the easy part of the question. We can buy a flag. We can wave it high. We can dress in red white and blue and the flag is waving. We can be the flag, if we like and celebrate the independence of our nation.
But, is it waving over the land of the free and the home of the brave? That, indeed is a harder question.
That is a harder thing to impose and fight for in our nation. The land of the free and the home of the brave, means more than wearing red, white and blue. It means being and supporting the things, the ideals and considerations principles and lifestyles that produce and multiply our freedoms and bravery.
Is the land still there? Is the flag still there? Are we still here?
When we stand and hold hand to heart believing and fighting to defend and give our children the rights and love for the land from which we hail, let us commit again to the biblical principles that God blesses with life and liberty. When we fall away from supporting those principles we are dulling the colors. We are defacing the nation and we are the graffiti on the landscape of freedom and liberty, when we do. We don’t want to be graffiti, do we?
Happy 4th of July

And the rockets red glare…
The bombs bursting in air…

Thursday, June 17, 2010

The Sorority of Maternity, has its own initiations.

We seemed to take it upon ourselves in the matter of course. It was like a blooming garden as the bellies which were once the youthful feminine shape became distorted and went from oval to round and sometimes several times. It is beautiful to observe, from the outside, now. The beauty that God has placed in the human reproductive cycles. Even that was directed, by "Mr. Conductor", so to speak. You families are waiting and waiting, he said one day to us all. Look at dear Carol Hoffmaier, who is now providentially hindered from having any more children. Will you wait, till your bodies can't have anymore? We shuddered to think of this. We were waiting until...the nests were just so. They could or couldn't be just so for long. We learned to trust the Lord and God used our dear Elders there at Trinity to guide us through the fecundity of our precious childbearing years.
Blest Be the Tie that Binds...Our hearts in Christian Love.

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

So we sat as yearning Ewe Lambs...

Looking to our undershepherd for direction for our youthful lives. What do we do, now that we are young Christian wives? I will tell you what my mother did, was the answer Pastor Martin gave us. She prayed on the floor for the salvation of this soul. She gave hospitality to strangers and my wife did also. We were yearning to be that kind of woman. Fellowship and right service to husband and the church were the longing of our hearts. We committed that we would make his preaching come alive in our homes. So, we respected our husbands. All of our training had taught us to be self assured and determined feminists.
I still remember the message about the woman with the alabaster box of ointment. I was sitting in the back of the church and I felt the Lord call us to go outside of our comfort zone again. We couldn't live in Christian huddle, it was time to envision and live to God's glory where we were planted, as hard as this was. It was time to leave Trinity.
Laboring to anoint the feet of Jesus was the motivation. Laboring to give service in an uncomfortable set of circumstances. Englewood was where we lived and we would lend our praise and prayers there.

Monday, June 14, 2010

I have had occasion to remember the breaths of motivation that got us to this point.

I do remember, with fondness the slights of influence that were inspirational to us, when we were in our early married days. We had elders in our lives, who were positively directive to help us hone our desires in marriage into one. What we want to be as individuals did not eclipse what we wanted to be as a family. What is a family that fears the Lord? What are the investments of time and attention to look like? First thing, praying and seeking the Lord to help you to love and care for eachother. Second preparing to care for children and the aging parents that God has given you. You will want to be ready to care for them when they get older. That is why you want the woman to be at home, so that she can be that care taker to children and the elderly in a humane way.
Pastor Martin did this, by telling stories of the struggles of he and his wife in the care of their parents. The struggles of having different scruples than the older generation. He laid out the conflicts of carrying children and parents on his family's back and we yearned to be that kind of a family to our siblings and parents.
What should you be yearning for, young praying women? You should want to be godly and growing in grace and wisdom, so that your fruitfulness will be useful to God. Yearn to use your beauty in hospitality. Yearn to use your knowledge to serve the brethren. Yearn to see the prayers of your hearts enfleshed in the world around you. Yearn to pour out yourselves for the education of the next generation and the comforts of the older generation. We followed like little lambs and we loved to do this. For her (the church) our tears were spent. For her our hearts were enlivened and enlightened. He directed our loves and our lights. I see you lighting up, my daughters. Let the word of God direct that light.
It is not by accident, that we were homeschooling and trying to direct the generation after us. We were instructed and directed to do this. We had calculating elders send us out, as it were, two by two.

There were wolves and they vanquished the flock in their self-serving. Took and did not give. Wow, what gullible sheep, you are?
God knows!
He knows our hearts and he knows the people who are self serving and ate of the flock.

God allowed us to care some for parents.
Anyway, it is the older generation to make the beds of the future generations. We are the ones who teach them to pray and to serve in this nation. We are the ones who make them desire to serve Him, or not, as the case may be. Thank God for the elders at Trinity, who gave us a sight for past our own noses.

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

So Blessed to learn to cast my care...

I do imagine the devil going to God daily, carrying our complaints before God. As it shows him in the book of Job. God says to the devil, where have you been. He answers the Lord. I just imagine, he brings up to God the complainers. This person is accusing You of this and that and Your goodness is questioned in this or that way. I haven't heard that Job was among the complainers, it seems to illude to, in the passage. Almost, as though that is the measure of godliness on earth. Jesus carries our griefs and pleads on our behalf before the Father, but the devil is pleading against us.
How many of us are among the people that God hears murmering and complaining, though we are blessed with sooo much? It is good to give thanks to the Lord on high. We make elaborate excuses, why this or that kind of expression of praise is not to our liking and I am a very picky musical listener.
I know what it is to complain about a sour note or a mis-hit note in a song. Far worse than a sour note, is complaining. AHHHHHHH! Do, re, mi!
God is merciful and he listens to every petition, but, murmuring is accusing God of unjustness, in His providences. Too often we are the ones who the devil is carrying the gossip, to God to tell on our murmuring. Jesus paid for these sins too. But, how sad to grieve our good God's heart, by our unbelief. Unbelief, wrought from griefs and sins and sour complaining, is ugly and blinding. God's Word has the remedies and we can grow in faith to look to the God of His Word, when our hearts condemn and accuse the good God, who has cared so well for His people.
God seemed to say, I never hear you accuse Job of unbelief. He is careful to praise me. How many people on the earth were richer or poorer than Job, but one man was on the earth at that time whose praise to God had made him a monument of righteous love of God. The ungrateful rest of the world. Shameful that we are accepting the gifts of God and complaining about them with the breath that He lends. God help us to glorify God in our bodies.

Monday, May 31, 2010

Happy Memorial Day!

America The Beautiful
MATERNA


Author: Katharine Lee Bates, 1859-1929
Musician: Samuel A. Ward, 1847-1903

O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America!
God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea
!


The fact that Memorial Day was designed to honor our fallen heroes and to comfort the mothers and widow and daughters and brethren of those fallen.
I am interested that the first line of this song points to the sky. Seeming to say, look up, dear grieving women. We live in a country of beautiful skies, mountains and plains. Take your eyes off the grave, dear grieving ones, look at the country that they died to save.

O beautiful for pilgrim feet,
Whose stern, impassioned stress
A thorough-fare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America!
God mend thine ev'ry flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self control,
Thy liberty in law!






O beautiful for heroes proved
In liberating strife,
Who more than self their country loved,
And mercy more than life!
America! America!
May God thy gold refine
Till all success be nobleness
And ev'ry gain divine!






O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam,
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America!
God shed His grace on thee,


Lord we have broken our alabaster cities on Your feet, to fight for a land of freedom and honor to Your Word. By lending our loved ones into the fight for freedom, we have believed that You will maintain our freedoms and help us to be and keep the children's eyes on Christ and Him crucified. See our sacrifices and see the honor of the things that we have poured upon You. Help us not to grieve as those who have no hope.
Bless our sacrifice and preserve our hopes in You, Amen!

Friday, May 28, 2010

Loading my consciences with the knowledge of the True God!

Ignorance is not bliss, with regards to God. The devil, himself comforts us that we don't need to know that much about God, because He is everywhere. The more that we know God the more comforts and the more blessing that He is in our sufferings. The more that we know Him, the less we love ourselves. Psalms and Hymns and Spiritual Songs are filling our souls with the knowledge of God, so that we are prepared in our hearts and minds to see Him.
Prepare my heart to see You in Glory, is our daily prayer. Moses said teach us Lord to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. Satisfy us daily with Your mercies, that we may rejoice and be glad all of our days.
God blessed our elders with wisdom and direction and every good and perfect gift comes from the Father of lights in whom is no shadow of turning.
The closer that we get to the pearly Gate, the more the devil taunts us with our unconscionable acts. The devil reminds us, our children remind us and every point is played back for us to look at, as if on the television. Watching the television is not a salve for this. Owning and confessing and repentance for these things are the blessing. I thank You Lord, that You have directed my way. I am sorry that so much of my past has been self-serving. I pray that You will cleanse my conscience so that I can see Your wise hand of direction upon my life and commit my spirit to You as I aim my soul for Glory. The Love of God yearns for Him daily and thanks Him for the comforts and blessings that we enjoy. Hugs and kisses, family loves and the things that we have here are multiplied infinitely when we close our eyes to see Him. Lord, I commit my spirit to You, and we close our eyes to sleep to wake in the bosom of our Father!

Thursday, May 20, 2010

I love being a wife and a mother.


I am grateful for the help that I have these days with older children in the house with me. But, I love seeing the wind of God's love shining in the varied relationships in our house. As my elder daughters provoke a more mutual relationship and my teenagers provoke a more harried mental acumen, I am challenged to seek God for grace and help to keep up with the physical and emotional demands of my chosen ministry.
Their souls and bodies are my most important calling, although, I am not able to juggle these callings as well as I'd like. My love for God is expressed in my love for them. My mother used to call it Eucharist, to bring a meal to an ailing husband. Seeing God's calling in the everyday duties, make them solemn.

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Jesus cares and redesigns the condition of women in the world.

In every society, the condition of women has been disparaged. Care and consideration for the labors and condition of women is something that is only the fruit of Grace. Jesus showed people that God did not create women as an afterthought. God did not intend for the battle of male and female to continue. He has respect and a purpose for womanhood and femininity. The wicked condition of the children of Israel, in the book of Judges, when they cut that poor woman into parts. It seems like a story of a people who have no scruples at all. Jesus, through the scriptures, intends to uplift and correct the male and female condition. In Christ we are putting the pieces back together. He has saved us out of the condition of disrespect of His purposes for our lives and for the cultural specifications of both. We must respect the viewpoints of male and female, if we would reflect the God who created us thusly. We must love oneanother and defer to one another in governing and in community. We are the reflection of God's mind and purpose in this world. Male and female, created He them.
God, you created me, a woman and I am Yours, help me to see the wonder of Your purposes for me in this world.

Saturday, May 15, 2010

Only Jesus, can do helpless sinners good!

Jay Adams, Christian Living in the Home, said "A Christian Home is where sinners agree to forgive eachother and live in loving forgiving commitment with one another." Who could live without that? Who doesn't need the forgiveness of God, to live in community with oneanother. Usually, love covers a multitude of sins, but, every once in a while there is a love explosion, or an anger explosion.
I am living in the fallout of my recent anger explosion. I have too much to do and to little energy to do it. I have too much to buy and too little money to buy it for supplies and I just exploded all over my ever beloved.
Jesus forgives me and sends my sins into the sea of forgetfulness, but my beloved will live with the scars of my tyrade for the rest of time. I out leashed. I am not usually an OLD YELLER. But...
Putting the pieces back together and living in comradery, if not community will be difficult as we work through our angered season. Out of sync!

Friday, May 14, 2010

Proverbs 13 and 14


What is a Fontbonne?
Proverbs 13:14 The law of the wise is a fountain of life, To turn one away from the snares of death
Proverbs 14:27 The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, To turn one away from the snares of death.

I thought that I had made a mistake this morning. I read this yesterday, I said to myself when I got to verse 27 in Proverbs 14. I do get confused with the days of the week and yesterday, I almost wore jeans to work, because I thought it was Friday. So, I went back to read yesterday's Proverb chapter, as is my habit. There it was, so similar a verse and so very dear to my heart as my Alma Mater. What is a fountain of life? What is a Fontbonne? The law of the wise, is. The fear of the Lord is. Turn us away from the snares of death.
God bless the good fountain in my soul and the souls of those who share my Alma(soul) Mater(mother). Make us true to the fear of the Lord and the law of the wise, in Jesus. Amen.

Sunday, May 9, 2010

Happy Mother's Day to the mothers in my life!


Examples and happy people who love and give to their children, make me grateful. Thank you to every woman who has given me a reason to continue in my life's choice and ministry. The people who contribute love and life, by assisting with love, in our growing our large and energetic family. Thank you women, for all that you do. I am watching you.

Friday, May 7, 2010

America the Beautiful~~~Kathy Lee Bates.

Oh Beautiful for patriot's dream, That sees beyond the years.Thine alabaster cities gleam, Undimmed by human tears--America, America God shed His grace on thee...And crown Thy good with brotherhood, from sea to shining sea.


What a beautiful expression of the exaltation of our nation, in growth and life, in spite of the sad providences that loom. She was obviously writing in the shadow of the horrors of the civil war. Though tears are flowing in every family in the nation, yet, God has still prospered and allowed the Industrial Revolution to grow our people and our cities.
Bless and anoint our nation to remember You. Bless the words of our mouth to come to fruition, Crowning good, with brotherhood...

Thursday, April 29, 2010

The Bible is mine.

Holy Bible, Book divine,Precious treasure, thou art mine:
Mine to tell me whence I came,Mine to teach me what I am;
Mine to chide me when I rove,Mine to show a Saviour's love;
Mine thou art to guide and guard,Mine to punish or reward;
Mine to comfort in distress,Suff'ring in this wilderness;
Mine to show, by living faithMan can triumph over death;
Mine to tell of joys to comeAnd the rebel sinner's doom:
O thou holy Book divine,Precious treasure, thou art mine

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

My Elder Bishop Ceasar said...

There is a blessing in each time that you read the Bible.

Could that be? I wondered curiously, long before I had ever attempted to read the Bible, from cover to cover. I was enamored by this statement and set myself to read the Bible, at least once, to know.
I read that passage already, one is tempted to think, who has not known the life and power of the true Word of the Living God. I would have been one of those, to whom the Word was just an accomplishment, at having read or touched each passage once with my eyes.
Bishop made me curious for communion with God, through His Word, by discussing the "Blessing".
Now, when I repeat that to my children, I try to put a number on it for emphasis, so that they can realize the infinite proportions of such a promise of God's fellowship. Is this the blessing of the 150th time that we have read this passage?
It usually quiets the murmurings, that we are reading...again. Halleluia, What a Savior!

Saturday, April 17, 2010

How deep the Father's love for us...

How Deep the Father’s Love For Us




Lyrics:
How deep the Father's love for us,
How vast beyond all measure
That He should give His only Son
To make a wretch His treasure

How great the pain of searing loss,
The Father turns His face away
As wounds which mar the chosen One,
Bring many sons to glory

Behold the Man upon a cross,
My sin upon His shoulders
Ashamed I hear my mocing voice,
Call out among the scoffers

It was my sin that helf Him there
Until it was accomplished
His dying breath has brought me life
I knoww that it is finished

I will not boast in anything
No gifts, no power, no wisdom
But I will boast inJesus Christ
His death and resurrection

Why should I gain from His reward?
I cannot give an answer
But this I know with all my heart
His wounds have paid my ransom


(REPEAT)As Wounds, which mar the chosen One, Bring many sons to glory.


What an amazing comfort, in the loss of war and searing loss. The Eternal value of the darkness, when the Father turned His face away as the wounds had to be allowed. What eternal paternal self control that He would watch and turn, or He would have had to come from Glory and turn the tables on the earth itself to deliver His Son from such pain and grief. Why are You turning from Me, said the Son. Every parent knows to what lengths they would go to turn pain and grief around for your child. The Father turned His face away to allow the salvation of a wretched soul, bringing many sons to glory. There was no other way. The Son had laid the plan out to His Father. Are You sure, the travail of soul is worth it to You; did they agree? Of Course they did. The outworking of the labor of redemption looked at through the sieve of parents of children gone in war, is the Hymn. How deep the Father’s love for us!

He did turn His face away. He did allow the marring of His son’s soul and those parents who send their children off to war can identify with the love that they have to sacrifice the possible loss for a greater good.
Many sons, in glory are the travail of the soul of the “Perfect Savior”.
Somebody meditated on Jesus' words from the cross and gave us this great hymn.