Guarding your pea-patch! Guard your gates of your soul... Gal. 6:1

Debauched and deplorable information is projected across the airwaves. How significant is this for my perusal? How important is it to my soul in the light of eternity?

Can I pivot from these issues to more significant information? Sometimes I can't. Sometimes it is part of my job description to peruse the gossip columns and the banter of unethical querries. What do I do? Pray! Pray! Pray! Pray before you open that email. Pray before you open your mouth, in response to an accusation. Pray before you listen to that accusation about another. Ask God to give you, as it were, a way to say, I refuse to accuse someone who hasn't been tried in a court of law. Pray for a spiritual "nom de plume" a preface which covers the entire subject, like "I speak as a fool..." Give your soul a break from all speech and talk for a while and keep yourself in clear communication with your prayer partners for accountability sake.

ie.

"In the multitude of words, sin is not lacking"

I own that my wordiness in work convicts me, Lord! I am guilty. Cleanse and heal me, Lord! Help me to redeem the words for your glory and not to project myself as judge or jury. But to learn to debase self and self-serving speaking and postings and exalt you and your highest principles, using words. There but for the grace of God... In Jesus' name. Amen

There but for the grace of God is a great place to start.

As I was pondering my own experiences of falling short...

I could never hope to stand as a judge against these people, but thinking people must discuss these things, if we hope to rise from our current state of affairs...etc.

Judges 19 is a hideous reminder of the degradation that can happen to a culture without Christ's merciful intervention!

Just as wicked as Sodom and Gomorrah, were the children of Israel in their vile intentions and actions, in secret; which rose to a riot of violence in the streets toward strangers. How could this be? They had instructions of the expectations of God and Judges to guide and protect. What was the difference between them and the pagans? There was none.

Every man did that which was right in his own eyes

A telling statement from the Bible to mark our estimations of this degradations. These people are barbaric, an entire city, given to take complete advantage of wayfarers.

We expect this when we go into Ninevah or Sodom, but in Israel? Even with light of God's Word to guide, when we get away from holding people accountable to the Word of God, chaos ensues and the most debauched kind of chaos is the lot of those whose minds have been enlightened to God to any degree. Rebelling against the goodness of God is certainly of greater consequence than never having been instructed.

Use Your Word, we pray, dear Lord! Make us clean and not just on the outside. In Jesus' name. Use Your church and Your people to grow our culture out of the debauchery of our day. Amen!

Ejecting the Humanism of my soul!

Thank God for the message on Sunday

Pastor reminded us of the many ways and multiple expressions of self-dependence and self-aggrandizement that are part and parcel of our American experience. Are we really Christians, when we are so exalting of self, in our efforts and in our faith and in our labors? We did it! we say. We will get it done! we promote. No post scripts, no "Lord willings" to temper our pride.

There is certainly something to be said of children who are taught to have holy reflexes at the name of Jesus. Bow the head. Bow the knee. Whatever can remind you that you are not your own is a good thing to learn.

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart...be acceptable in Thy sight, Oh Lord, my strength and my redeemer. Amen.

Lord Jesus Christ, we seek Thy face; Within the veil we bow the knee; O let Thy glory fill the place, And bless us while we wait on Thee.

We thank Thee for the precious blood That purged our sins and brought us nigh, All cleansed and sanctified to God, Thy holy Name to magnify.

Shut in with Thee, far, far above The restless world that wars below, We seek to learn and prove Thy love, Thy wisdom and Thy grace to know.

The brow that once with thorns was bound, Thy hands, Thy side, we fain would see; Draw near, Lord Jesus, glory-crowned, And bless us while we wait on Thee.

A Prayer and an Amen to Pastor Coty's prayer for our nation and the election!

Like the people of Judah, we the people of the United States do not deserve even a modicum of God's mercy, and so we do not deserve an honest, good, principled leader of our government. At this point, it certainly does not look like we will get one this year. But if God could bring Manasseh to repentance, He can bring to repentance any American president; if God could destroy His own temple and bring down the kingdom called by His Name, He can bring down in judgment the United States of America; and if God could restore His people, showing mercy that they did not deserve, and raise up from a descendant of this very Manasseh the Savior of the world, then God can bring a sinful and rebellious nation today to repentance, and use it for His good and wise purposes to bring about the final culmination of His great  plan. Father, in Your mercy, would you would grant such repentance?

Pastor Coty

Amen, I sayDGCC website, Amen, Amen 

Build Your church, Dear Lord.  Draw people to Yourself in humble supplication for Your intercession.  Answer the prayers that we pray for the uplifting of our hearts and not just our pocketbooks. Grant safety and peace,  ethics and heart religion to the leaders of our nation and give the young people something to reach for.  Use Your Word to cleanse and heal and transform.  In wrath remember mercy!


In Jesus' Name, Amen

The Contrast of the Arm of the Lord and the Arm of man! No Comparison

As I stood beside my son and felt vicariously the pulling squeak of the rods from his tiny bones, I thanked God for the precision and great time that we live in to have his arm reset in such a way.   My heart hurt with every squeak of the pull.  There were 3 rods and they worked to hold the arm in place while the body pulled those bones back permanently.
When I see him do a push-up or hit a backhand, my heart leaps that healing can happen in such a way that is so internal and so unseen, by anyone but the mother.


I am praying for the cry of Egypt in Ezekiel.  God show yourself as the greater love than a mother.  Show that You do not forget Your own promises and oaths.  Turn that oath to the salvation of souls from the top to the bottom.  As You have healed my Ethy's Arm, show that broken arm cry for salvation and the love of Christ results in true reconciliation.  Help us over the generations to have renounced the pride that made us crushed in the Red Sea.   Meet us in the flood of Your salvation and redeem to the utmost.

Giving God the Glory!

Ezekiel 31:10 

Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thou hast lifted up thyself in height, and he hath shot up his top among the thick boughs, and his heart is lifted up in his height;

Ezekiel 31:11

I have therefore delivered him into the hand of the mighty one of the heathen; he shall surely deal with him: I have driven him out for his wickedness.

When I have raised my hands in victory,    I give God the glory.

His is the glory.  His is the victory.  His is the honor because He alone is worthy.

When I have enjoyed the smell of sweet success,   I give to God the glory.

Vain and putrid is the pride of man.  Sinful and selfserving is all acceptance of accolades on earth.

I won’t be satisfied with earthly achievements until my soul is satisfied in Jesus.  If you are not with me in my victories it is no victory.  If you are not with me in my completions the action is not complete.

Lord, Your help alone is right thinking.  I know that Your spirit is there, wherever I go.  Let Your Spirit catch me and hold me, even when my heart is rising and exalting.  Let Your Spirit catch me lest I fall into the pit, in my despair.

You are the fairest and most beautiful.  You are the exalted and mighty king.  Give grace to see the exaltation of Your attributes in the good times and the dark.  I love You Lord for all Your graces and help.

"Hear my cry, Oh Lord! Attend unto my Prayer" {thoughts from Minister Jackson's sermon today}

Ezekiel 30:19 Thus will I execute judgments in Egypt: and they shall know that I am the LORD. Ezekiel 30:20 And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the first month, in the seventh day of the month, that the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Ezekiel 30:21 Son of man, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and, lo, it shall not be bound up to be healed, to put a roller to bind it, to make it strong to hold the sword. Ezekiel 30:22 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and will break his arms, the strong, and that which was broken; and I will cause the sword to fall out of his hand. Ezekiel 30:23 And I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and will disperse them through the countries. Ezekiel 30:24 And I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, and put my sword in his hand: but I will break Pharaoh's arms, and he shall groan before him with the groanings of a deadly wounded man.

Thank You Lord for the fruition of your commitment to turn our mourning into dancing. As we learn to love you and to put away our idolatry and live for the glory of God, it is wonderful to see you making these judgments of the Old Testaments an expression of your loving deliverance of our cultures from the sins and curses of our past idolatries. As we throw the vestiges off, you use our cries of brokenness to cries of worship and praise. You inhabit our praises to Your name and give us a glimpse of Your glory and wonder on the earth. Thank you, Lord for your commitment to give us joy in our sorrows and hope in the midst of our sorrowful spirits. We trust You to continue building Your church for Your glory and using it to fight the warfare of the spirit in our generation and sharpening the tools of our warfare for the next generation. Halleluia that you are doing new things in each season. Morning by morning, new mercies I see! Thank you for those mercies! Thank you for the opening of our eyes to the importance of praise and worship in the spiritual and emotional battles of faith. O for faith to trust You more... amen.
Psalm 61