A Day Or Two Thousand Years?

Psalm 90:1-12 KJV; 25th Sunday after Pentecost; Two thousand years ago when Jesus lived and died is but yesterday in the eyes of God.

His Way Is Perfect

Psalm 18:30-38 KJV: No matter how good or bad life may feel at any given moment know that God is with you and His good and perfect will is done.

Challenges Will Be Overcome

Isaiah 40:28-31 KJV; He will lift us up as on eagles' wings. He will give us strength. He has overcome.

No Grumbling Or Arguing!

Philippians 2:14-16; No grumbling; nor arguing so that you might shine like stars on the day of Jesus the Christ.

Bless The Lord Oh My Soul

Psalm 103 KJV; Bless the Lord for all that He has done.

Our Refuge And Strength

Psalm 46 KJV; Reformation Sunday; Humankind's actions are harmful to one another; but, God is our refuge and strength. The Lord of hosts is with us.

Bless The Words Of Our Lips

Psalm 19:14 KJV May all that we think and say be acceptable to the Lord.

He Is My Rock And Salvation

Psalm 62 KJV; Turn to the Lord in times of trouble for He is the only one who can save you.

Jesus Bids You Take Up Your Cross

Luke 14:25-35 KJV  "When Christ calls a man, He bids him come and die."  (Dietrich Bonhoeffer) Consider the cost of following Jesus. It is not a commitment that we should take lightly.

Blessed Is The Nation

Reading from Psalm 33:12-22; Blessed is the nation whose God is Lord! Trust Him!

What Is There To Fear?

Psalm 27:1-6; Romans 8:31-39 KJV There is nothing to fear if God is for us. Our desire is to dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

God Is Our Refuge And Fortress

Reading from Psalm 91 KJV. Do not fear; only believe for God is our refuge and fortress.

Be Still And Know God

Psalm 46:1-2, 10-11 KJV Be Still and know the great "I Am" is with you.

The Spirit Abides With You

John 16:12-14 KJV

Tired?

Tired?  Feed his sheep anyway...

Dwell In The House Of The Lord

Strength For The Weary

The weary shall mount up wings of an eagle

Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding.

He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.

Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:

But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

                                                                                  (Isa 40:28-31 KJV)

I have been a bit weary lately. It seems it gets more and more difficult each day to get anything accomplished. We are in the process of selling our home in Michigan. We have been waiting to close on the sale for months. I have paperwork laying all over my office. Every time I think we're close to closing, I'm ruffling through all of the stacks of paper once again. The title company seems to be having problems figuring out things. Today is exactly four months after we accepted the offer. So... I am feeling very weary. I have to keep reminding myself that God will take care of things according to his will and in his time so I am editing and reposting this story I wrote a year ago to remind myself and you to trust the Lord to give us strength in all things.

I was on a sabbatical kayaking on the southern shore of Lake Superior many years ago. The stretch I was traveling that day was very remote. There was no cell service. There were no roads. There were no homes along this stretch of shoreline. There were only woods. There was also a storm that came up once I was on the water. The rain was light; but, there was a lot of wind and some really rough wave action. It was not the first time that I had paddled during small craft warnings. If it had not been for my husband waiting at a park with lunch for me at the end of this stretch I would have pulled up on shore and set up my tent until the weather calmed down. But, he was expecting me and I knew that if I was way too late he would have the Coast Guard out looking for me. Although, weary from battling the wind and waves I was determined to keep going. 

I was finally quite exhausted. The wind and the rain had gotten worse so I decided to go on shore and eat a little bit of lunch hoping that the storm would die down a bit. The landing was a little rough; but, not too bad. I ate lunch taking cover under a tree from at least some of the rain. The prospect of launching was a little daunting as the water grew fiercer. I love Lake Superior; but, she is something to be very wary of so I laid down and fell asleep  waiting for her to calm down. When I opened my eyes I beheld a bald eagle on a limb above me; looking down; watching me. I could see his eyes plainly. I could see every wet feather on his head. I remembered this verse from Isaiah: "But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint." 

My strength was renewed. I got up and back out on the water with the assurance that God was with me. The launch was much rougher than the landing. I struggled against the waves as I launched and paddled far enough from the shoreline to where it was not quite so rough. It took over six hours for me to make the about three hour journey to where my husband was waiting for me. And... yes, he had grown very worried. But, thankfully he had not called the Coast Guard, yet! 

There are many days that we grow weary. Sometimes the storms of life wear us out. Sometimes even the lack of storms can actually make us weary of life; weary of the same old things. But, no matter what causes us to grow weary and to lose our strength or our courage to move forward, we can know that God is with us. We can be confident that He will give us power and strength. He gives us the courage to rise up with wings like eagles and keep going no matter what challenges the days will bring us.

God's Peace - Pr. J.

Time With God

But I will sing of thy power; yea, I will sing aloud of thy mercy in the morning: for thou hast been my defence and refuge in the day of my trouble.

Unto thee, O my strength, will I sing: for God is my defence, and the God of my mercy. 

                  (Psalm 59:16-17 KJV)

Early morning is my time with God. He is with me all day and I pray often throughout the day. But, in the early morning hours it is quiet and still enough that I can spend intentional time with him without interruptions.

And... when I do spend intentional time with him in this way, I find that I am more aware of his presence throughout the day. Every day brings at least a challenge or two; but, I know that God is with me. He is my defense.  When the challenges come, I find my mind going to the promises found in scriptures and more and more lately I find myself singing songs of praise and thanksgiving as I meet those challenges.

God is with you. He has a good purpose for your life. He will defend you. He will lead you through each trial. If out of love for us he would send his only begotten Son to die for us; to die for our sins, would we suppose that he would not continue to protect and care for us?

He has shown us mercy through the shed blood of Jesus. He continues to show us mercy. He is our refuge and strength.

Give thanks to the Lord for his mercy endures forever!

God's Peace - Pr. J.

All That We Say And Think And Do

Psalm 19:8-14 KJV

The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.

The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.

More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.

Moreover by them is thy servant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward.

Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults.

Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression.

Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer.

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The law of the Lord is most difficult for us to keep. We are sinful human beings and the truth is we do not and cannot keep it perfectly. But, we can understand when we do not keep them. We can know and we can repent and ask the Lord to help keep us from sin even as we ask in the Lord's Prayer that he keep us from all temptations. 

The Law if it could be kept would keep us in harmony with God and with one another. Yet, it is broken every minute of every day. Therefore our Father in heaven sent his only begotten Son, Jesus, to take our sins upon himself and be put to death for our transgressions. He was tried, sentenced and executed for our sins. Through this one act of love for humankind forgiveness belongs to us. For all who believe in him; in his act of love by dying for us, will inherit eternal life, reconciled to our Father and to all of our brothers and sisters in Christ.

We cannot keep the law perfectly. But, out of love for the one who loves us so much we ask and trust that the Spirit of Christ, who has redeemed us, will give us strength to glorify his holy name in all that we say and think and do.

Let us always pray:  "Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer." (Psalm 19:14)

God's Peace - Pr. J.

The Voice Of The Lord

Psalm 29 KJV

Give unto the Lord, O ye mighty, give unto the Lord glory and strength.

Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name; worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.

The voice of the Lord is upon the waters: the God of glory thundereth: the Lord is upon many waters.

The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is full of majesty.

The voice of the Lord breaketh the cedars; yea, the Lord breaketh the cedars of Lebanon.

He maketh them also to skip like a calf; Lebanon and Sirion like a young unicorn.

The voice of the Lord divideth the flames of fire.

The voice of the Lord shaketh the wilderness; the Lord shaketh the wilderness of Kadesh.

The voice of the Lord maketh the hinds to calve, and discovereth the forests: and in his temple doth every one speak of his glory.

The Lord sitteth upon the flood; yea, the Lord sitteth King for ever.

The Lord will give strength unto his people; the Lord will bless his people with peace.

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The psalmist reminds us that all glory and strength belong to God. He is all powerful. The strength of his voice does awesome things. The good news is that he gives strength to his people. He blesses us with peace!

Thanks be to God!

God's Peace - Pr. J.