Category Archives: Bible

Lakeside Bible Camp ~ Early ’90’s ~ Thankful Thursday

 I’m combining this post with Thankful Thursday. What I’m thankful for today are Summer Bible Camps! What a blessing they were in my life and in the life of my children. My heart became Christ’s at Hume Lake Christian Camp in 1963. My kids have grown in their Christian walk at Lakeside Bible Camp. I’m sure a lot of you out there have been blessed by summer camps, too. So thank you Jesus for all the summer camp workers and visionaries out there!

With Bible Camp season upon us I’m posting this little trip down memory lane for our very own upcoming Directors of  teen camps this summer at Lakeside Bible Camp on Whidbey Island! Blessings on you Jamie, Lucy, and Josh! You’ve come a long way….

 

Bloggers unite in praying for all the youth camps happening this summer. Haven’t we all read testimonies of many hearts that were changed as a result of summer camps. Praying for God’s mercy, protection, and grace!

To see more Thankful Thursday Posts go to Sting My Heart.

Love Lifted Me ~ James Rowe

Matthew 14: 30-33 (NASB)  But seeing the wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” Immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and took hold of him, and said to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” When they got into the boat, the wind stopped. And those who were in the boat worshipped Him, saying, “You are certainly God’s Son!”

Rowe and Smith wrote this song in Saug­a­tuck, Con­nec­ti­cut. Ac­cord­ing to Rowe’s daugh­ter:

“How­ard E. Smith was a lit­tle man whose hands were so knot­ted with arth­ri­tis that you would won­der how he could use them at all, much less play the pi­a­no…I can see them now, my fa­ther strid­ing up and down hum­ming a bar or two and How­ard E. play­ing it and jot­ting it down.”

Love Lifted Me

I was sinking deep in sin, far from the peaceful shore,
Very deeply stained within, sinking to rise no more,
But the Master of the sea, heard my despairing cry,
From the waters lifted me, now safe am I.

Refrain

Love lifted me! Love lifted me!
When nothing else could help
Love lifted me!

All my heart to Him I give, ever to Him I’ll cling
In His blessèd presence live, ever His praises sing,
Love so mighty and so true, merits my soul’s best songs,
Faithful, loving service too, to Him belongs.

Refrain

Souls in danger look above, Jesus completely saves,
He will lift you by His love, out of the angry waves.
He’s the Master of the sea, billows His will obey,
He your Savior wants to be, be saved today.

Refrain

Ht: Cyberhymnal

Psalm 86 ~ A Prayer of David

 

Psalm 86: 1-10 (NIV)

Hear, O Lord, and answer me, for I am poor and needy. Guard my life, for I am devoted to you. You are my God; save your servant who trusts in you. Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I call to you all day long. Bring joy to your servant, for to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul. You are forgiving and good, O Lord, abounding in love to all who call to you.

Hear my prayer, O Lord; listen to my cry for mercy. In the day of my trouble I will call to you, for you will answer me. Among the gods there is none like you, O Lord; no deeds can compare with yours. All the nations you have made will come and worship before you, O Lord; they will bring glory to your name. For you are great and do marvelous deeds; you alone are God.

Psalm 148 ~ Praise The Lord!

 

Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord from the heavens;
Praise Him in the heights!
Praise Him, all His angels;
Praise Him, all His hosts!
Praise Him, sun and moon;
Praise Him, all stars of light!
Praise Him, highest heavens,
And the waters that are above the heavens!
Let them praise the name of the Lord,
For He commanded and they were created.
He has also established them forever and ever;
He has made a decree which will not pass away.

Praise the Lord form the earth,
Sea monsters and all deeps;
Fire and hail, snow and clouds;
Stormy wind, fulfilling His word;
Mountains and all hills;
Fruit trees and all cedars;
Beasts and all cattle;
Creeping things and winged fowl;
Kings of the earth and all peoples;
Princes and all judges of the earth;
Both young men and virgins;
Old men and children.

Let them praise the name of the Lord,
For His name alone is exalted;
His glory is above earth and heaven.
And He has lifted up a horn for His people,
Praise Him all His godly ones;
Even for the sons of Israel, a people near to Him.
Praise the Lord!

Psalm 148: 1-14 (NASB)

Your Thoughts ~ Susannah Spurgeon ~ Romans 12: 1-2

Woman to Woman: “Share an important quote and what it means to you.”

 

A while back, Lana, at  Above the Clouds wrote about how Bible Study can be illustrated with these Matryoshka dolls. I’m paraphrasing but the idea is that there is always more to find, deeper to go. I’m going to use this illustration in how God has been going into my mind, revealing thoughts that need to be captured for Him. Thoughts within thoughts within thoughts. The quote I chose to segue off of is the following by Susannah Spurgeon:

“The God who can understand your thoughts ‘afar off’ has the power to restrain them; no, more than that; before they reach you, while they are yet distant and unexpressed, he will purify and cleanse them, so that they shall enter your heart as angel whispers, and pass your lips only as words of love and blessing.” ~ Susannah Spurgeon

A few years ago I started to memorize Romans 12:1-3. This proved to be a mind changing experience for me. God began working on me in regards to my mind. He showed me wrong (sinful) patterns of thought that I entertained in my mind. He started with obvious big bad thoughts “the big outer doll”, if you will. Then He opened up doll after doll to show me how the wickedness in my mind was infecting my heart.  These thought patterns, fantasies, scenarios, rebuttals, defenses, gave me bad attitudes toward loved ones and wrong justifications about my behaviour. I knew God wanted me to say no to them. He showed me with practice in obedience to say no each time the same patterns would force their way into my mind. I had to say no a lot before some would desist! This was revolutionary for me. Mind you, we still have many more dolls to work on. Just look at all of them in that photo! ) Sometimes I even try to put the same dolls back together. I am looking forward to the day that I’ll meet my Savior “face to face” by His grace with the last solid doll in my hand!

 

Romans 12: 1-2

I with Susannah want to be brave enough to pray, “Dear Master, I make your servant David’s prayer my own and say ‘Search me O God and know my heart, try me and know my thoughts, and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”

If you’d like to read an insightful, well written post on “The Grace of a Clean Heart” go to Paul Tripp’s blog. He has a wonderful series of posts on Psalm 51.

Here are more passages to consider:  Colossians 3:2; Psalm 26:2; Is. 26:3; Mt. 22:37; Rom. 8:5-7; Phil. 2:5

Romans Image courtesy of Snapshots of Joy. Click here to see more images.

Now you can go to My Many Colored Days to read more Woman to Woman posts…

Psalm 1 ~ The Way of the Righteous

 

Psalm 1 (ESV)

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord and on his law he meditates day and night.

He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.

The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgement, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous; for the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.

Neighborhood Evening Walk

 Psalm 16:11 ~ You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

 

Proverbs 11:28 ~ Whoever trusts in his riches will fall but the righteous will flourish like a green leaf.

 

Ephesians 5: 1-2 ~ Therefore be imitators of God as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ has loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

 

I wish you could smell the wonderful fragrance of this Night Blooming Jasmine. The development that we live in has planted these flowering shrubs in all the common beds. Makes for a wonderful fragrant evening walk…

 

Isaiah 40:8 ~ The grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of our God will stand forever.

 

Isaiah 44:22 ~ I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud and your sins like mist; return to me, for I have redeemed you.

Our marine layer mist comes from the Pacific over the Santa Monica Mountains to envelope our mornings…

Photobucket blacked out all my photos and is holding all my photos hostage as of July 2017.

Worship That Pleases God ~ Sermon Notes ~ Steve Larson

The Thames 107

I didn’t catch everything that was preached but here are some thoughts I thought would be good to share. These notes were taken from Sunday’s sermon preached by Steve Larson, Evangelical Free Church Conejo Valley.

Deuteronomy 12 -13 ~ Worship that Pleases God

Learning to worship God properly will change your life. Worship focuses our attention on God and changes our hearts and lives. Worship God with all your heart…

Thanksgiving: focuses on the past – reminds us  that all we have has come from the hand of God – when we are thankful the result is joy and contentment.

Praise: focuses on the present – reminds us of the greatness of our God – when we praise the result is trust and courage and peace.

Submission: Ultimate act of worship – bowing your will to the will of God – when we submit to God we are in a place where God can bless us – He gives us fullness of life.

Practical ways to get to the place where God can be #1 in your life ~

~ Thank God right now (when you wake up, when you lie down) Declare it – speak it out loud!

~ Praise God for who He is right now. Declare the praises – say them out loud. Declare a new attitude “I work to honor God”

What you talk about deepens what you believe…

~ Closing the door: create fences in your life that make it harder for you to sin in the area of idolatry. Make decisions that help you focus on God.

True worship puts God in His right position in our lives, before our spouses, children, family, friends, job …

Deuteronomy 12:1-3, Mt. 22:37-38 ~ tear down the altars and love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind…

Worship God as He desires to be worshipped, Deut. 12:5-32, John 4:23-24, Romans 12:1-2, Heb. 13:15,16, Isa. 58: 1-11

Our worship offerings to God…

Romans 12: 1: “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship.

Hebrews 13:15: “Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise – the fruit of lips that confess his name.”

Hebrews 13:16: “And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.

I want to worship God in these ways and declare it out loud and be changed…

Blessings on you ~

After I posted this I woke up at 3:00 A.M. with this old Sunday School Song going through my mind that reinforces some of the sermon…do you remember this one?

Thank Him, thank Him, all ye little children, God is love, God is love (repeat)

Praise Him, praise Him, all ye little children, God is love, God is love (repeat)

Serve Him, serve Him, all ye little children, God is love, God is love (repeat)

Love Him, love Him, all ye little children , God is love, God is love…(repeat)

http://www.evfree.net/templates/System/details.asp?id=20569&PID=33526&Style=

On Things Above ~ C.S. Lewis ~ Longing for Heaven

Colossians 3:1-4 (NIV)

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

Colossians 3:1-4 (ESV)

If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

This quote by C.S. Lewis comes from Mere Christianity

Most of us find it very difficult to want “Heaven” at all – except in so far as “Heaven” means meeting again our friends who have died. One reason for this difficulty is that we have not been trained: our whole education tends to fix our minds on this world. Another reason is that when the real want for Heaven is present in us, we do not recognise it. Most people, if they had really learned to look into their own hearts, would know that they do want, and want acutely, something that cannot be had in this world. There are all sorts of things in this world that offer to give it to you, but they never quite keep their promise.”

Future Grace ~ John Piper

There are certain books that I keep on my nightstand that I only read a chapter at a time. Future Grace by John Piper is one of these. This is a quote from Chapter Thirteen.

In God’s Place, At God’s Pace, By Future Grace

Impatience is a form of unbelief. It’s what we begin to feel when we start to doubt the wisdom of God’s timing or the goodness of God’s guidance. It springs up in our hearts when our plan is interrupted or shattered. It may be prompted by a long wait in a checkout line or a sudden blow that knocks out half our dreams. The opposite of impatience is not a glib denial of loss. It’s a deepening, ripening, peaceful willingness to wait for God in the unplanned place of obedience, and to walk with God at the unplanned pace of obedience – to wait in his place, and go at his pace. And the key is faith in future grace.

…God is ruling the world. He is ruling history. And it is all for the good of his people and the glory of his name. ‘From of old they have not heard nor perceived by ear, neither has the eye seen a God besides Thee, who acts in behalf of the one who waits for Him’ (Isaiah 64:4) The power of patience flows through faith in the future, sovereign grace of God.”

The Lord is good to those who wait for Him. (Lamentations 3:25)

Blessings on your day as you live in faith for our future grace!