Category Archives: Bible

Thankful Thursday ~ Psalm 100

  Psalm 100

Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good and his love endures forever, his faithfulness continues through all generations.

I am praising and thanking God that I am experiencing His love and care by being with my children and closest friends these two weeks in Washington. I am basking in the goodness of it all! Praise God from whom all blessings flow…

To see more Thankful Thursday Posts head on over to Sting My Heart….

In Other Words Tuesday ~ “The Lord Is My Banner”

“Under the banner of God, victory is always assured; but apart from it, defeat is a certainty.  When the banner of God’s rod was not held high, Amalek prevailed.  You can’t do battle against the flesh under your own power.”

~ Kay Arthur ~author of  LORD, I Want To Know You  Above quote is in reference to Exodus 17:15: “The LORD is my banner”

So in other words…

As believers we all have our “Amaleks” that are waging war with us. Our sin nature daily wants to separate us from the God who has redeemed us. We will wage this battle until we enter into our final rest with Christ. We should not be deceived into being passive and unaware of the fact that we have to turn away, work hard, get rid of things in our lives that keep our eyes off of God. We need to claim who we are in Christ. We need to resist the enemy. We need to battle daily the thoughts and actions that would keep us from the victory that Christ has won for us. We need to see God’s banner before us and follow behind that banner and claim the victory we have been promised in Christ. “Apart from Him we can do nothing.”

So today I wake up and say Thank you God for going before me into this day and defeating the enemy before me. Help me to be obedient to you and give me your victory today in my thoughts, my actions, my hopes and my dreams. May I be aware I am in your army and that you are my King. Thank you for what you have done for me.

I John 5:4-5

“For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world – our faith. Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?”

To read more In Other Words Tuesday posts go to Joy in the Morning…

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Resentment ~ Poison ~ Quote

 The pastor at the church we attended today shared this quote that I wanted to pass along…

Resentment is the poison we swallow while hoping the other person dies…”

Something to dwell on instead,

“Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of malicious behavior. Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.”  Ephesians 4: 31-32

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Oh, Wonderful Word! ~ Hymn ~ Fanny Crosby

 Oh, Wonderful Word!

~Words by Fanny Crosby, circa 1886

 Oh, wonderful, wonderful Word of the Lord!
True wisdom its pages unfold;
And though we may read them a thousand times o’er,
They never, no never, grow old!
Each line hath a treasure, each promise a pearl,
That all if they will may secure;
And we know that when time and the world pass away,
God’s Word shall forever endure.

Oh, wonderful, wonderful Word of the Lord!
The lamp that our Father above
So kindly has lighted to teach us the way
That leads to the arms of His love!
Its warnings, its counsels, are faithful and just;
Its judgments are perfect and pure;
And we know that when time and the world pass away,
God’s Word shall forever endure.

Oh, wonderful, wonderful Word of the Lord!
Our only salvation is there;
It carries conviction down deep in the heart,
And shows us ourselves as we are.
It tells of a Savior, and points to the cross,
Where pardon we now may secure;
For we know that when time and the world pass away,
God’s Word shall forever endure.

Oh, wonderful, wonderful Word of the Lord!
The hope of our friends in the past;
Its truth, where so firmly they anchored their trust,
Through ages eternal shall last.
Oh, wonderful, wonderful Word of the Lord!
Unchanging, abiding and sure;
For we know that when time and the world pass away,
God’s Word shall forever endure.

ht: Cyberhymnal

Holiness ~ Quotes ~ R.C. Sproul and D.A. Carson

Here are a couple of quotes I wanted to share today….

“I am not obsessed with holiness because I am holy. I love the holiness of God because it is my only hope. Without his mercy and holiness there would be no restraint to my wickedness.” R.C. Sproul

This is a quote from my archives that my pastor used in a sermon a while back. I thought it a good one to share also…

From For the Love of God by D.A. Carson;

“People do not drift toward holiness. Apart from grace-driven effort, people do not gravitate toward godliness, prayer, obedience to scripture, faith and delight in the Lord. We drift toward compromise and call it tolerance; we drift toward disobedience and call it freedom; we drift toward superstition and call it faith. We cherish the indiscipline of lost self-control and call it relaxation; we slide toward prayerlessness and delude ourselves into thinking we have escaped legalism; we slide toward godlessness and convince ourselves we have been liberated.”

I Peter 1:13-16 ~

“Preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

I Peter 2:9

“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”

Thankful Thursday ~ I Chronicles 16:8-12

 

 

Give thanks to the Lord, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done. Sing to him, sing praise to him; tell of all his wonderful acts. Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice. Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always. Remember the wonders he has done, his miracles, and the judgments he pronounced, …”

One of the miracles that the Lord has done in my life is leading my Father and Mother out of Iran (Persia back then) to the U.S.A. This was before my Father was a believer but God’s hand was on him in a mighty way leading my Father to himself. My Mother was a believer when she married my Father. I am so thankful to God for His hand of mercy that gave my parents the desire to immigrate to the U.S. In 1963, fifteen years after immigrating to the states, my Father became a believer at the Billy Graham Crusade in Los Angeles. I am remembering and thanking God for His amazing grace in my Fathers life and the benefits of that grace to me…

Thank you Lord for all you’ve done. I will sing praises to you and rejoice. I will look to you for strength and seek your face always. I will remember the wonderful things you have done. Glory to your holy name. Amen.

To read more Thankful Thursday Posts or to participate head over to Sting My Heart…

We Aren’t Normal

My family is not normal. This is a good thing. Today I had brunch with my sister her 2 daughters and another sister’s daughter. We are friends. We are different from each other. We love each other. We like to get together and be together. We aren’t checking to see if we had our daily devotions today. We are loving on each other, caring for each other, accepting each other, praying for each other and waiting on God to do His sanctifying work in our lives. If we fall, we love each other and help each other get up. If we have an emotional melt down we wait for that to pass and see what God taught us through that. We don’t panic and wonder if we’ve lost our salvation. We’ve seen a lot in my family. There are plenty of people to watch after all. We trust God that He will bring us all through the ups and downs of our lives here on earth. What we do and need to do is to love each other dearly. Above all else, love each other dearly… That’s what I want to do. That’s what I want to encourage you to do.

I Peter 4:8  (ESV) ~

Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.

(NIV) ~

Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.

(NASB)

Above all keep fervent in your love for one another because love covers a multitude of sins.

The Message ~

Most of all, love each other as if your life depended on it. Love makes up for practically anything.

We’re not normal. We are certainly not perfect. But, we love each other and that covers a lot of kasha! (Russian for oatmeal, or messy issues….)

 

In Other Words Tuesday ~

This Tuesday Sting My Heart is  hosting “In Other Words”, a meme that originated on Christian Women Online. A quote is chosen by the host to consider and we are invited to write our “take” on the quote. Here is the quote that was chosen for Tuesday August 14th.

“Blessed Be Your name
When I’m found in the desert place
Though I walk through the wilderness
Blessed Be Your name…”
~ Matt Redman ~

Psalm 34:19 ~
Many are the afflictions of the righteous; but the Lord delivers him out of them all.

Isaiah 43:1-3

But now, this is what the Lord says-
he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel;
“Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have summoned you by name; you are mine.
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.
For I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior….”

Isaiah 43:18-19~
Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.
See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.

So God promises to bring us through the wilderness. He does not abandon us. We can cling to these next great promises for our future…

Isaiah 35: 9,10 ~
But only the redeemed will walk there,
and the ransomed of the Lord will return.
They will enter Zion with singing;
everlasting joy will crown their heads.
Gladness and joy will overtake them,
and sorrow and sighing will flee away.

Romans 15: 4~
For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.

So I hope these verses encourage you to know that in the midst of our wilderness times, our times in the desert, and times of affliction (which are inevitable here on this earth), our hope, the promise that sustains us and lets us say “blessed be the Lord” is that Jesus has gone before us on this wilderness road and He promises because of his saving grace to bring us through our wilderness to our amazing gift in the future in heaven with Him. We have a future with Him without “sorrow and sighing.”  

Romans 15:13 ~
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Blessed be His Name!

If you’d like to read more thoughts on this quote go over to Sting my Heart…

The Marriage Supper of the Lamb

Revelation 19: 6-9 (ESV)

Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out,

Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure” –

for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.”

Now this is the celebration I’m really looking forward to. I don’t think anything on this earth could rival it…