Category Archives: Holy Spirit

Daily Reading 2026

Morning is my best time for Bible readings before the noise of the day begins.

My daily reading choices for 2026 are pictured in the collage above. I’m using a 4 part Bible Reading Plan that has the Bible broken up with daily sections in the Psalms/Wisdom Literature, Pentateuch/History of Israel, Chronicles/Prophets, and Gospels/Epistles. Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening is my second daily reading, a section in the morning and a section in the evening before bed. My third choice is going to stretch my brain, Daily Doctrine ~A One Year Guide to Systematic Theology, by Kevin DeYoung.

Here’s an excerpt from day seven: “Ad Fontes is a Latin phrase meaning “to the sources,” or literally “to the fountains.” It comes from the Vulgate version of Psalm 42:1. The Vulgate was the Latin Bible used almost exclusively in the church for a thousand years, until men like William Tyndale and Martin Luther began to translate the Bible in the common language of the people. During the Reformation this little phrase, ad fontes, became a rallying cry for those who wanted Christian learning to go back to the sources, back to the original fountains, which meant back to the Greeks and the ancient writers and ultimately back to the Scriptures themselves.”

Thankfully each day’s reading in this book is short and hopefully I can retain what is important.

In all these daily readings, “The beholding must make us more like Christ.” I was inspired to write that down in my journal but don’t know if I read that thought from Spurgeon or another source. It’s a good reminder of why we read the Bible and other works filled with Truth from the Bible. Not just an exercise but a way to learn more about our Triune God and to love Him more. We love because He first loved us.

This past Sunday in our Adult Sunday School time our pastor talked about Progressive Sanctification and referenced 2 Corinthians 3:18; “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.” Earlier in this chapter we learn that only through Christ is the veil removed. “But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed.” When that veil is removed God begins His sanctifying work in our lives from one degree of glory to another. He gives us the desire and the way to become more like Christ and to glorify Him forever. It happens by steps, by degrees, until we see Him face to face.

This is the first book I’ve finished reading in 2026. It is an older published book and was an easy read with some side stories about Begg and his experiences in Scotland and how he ended up in Cincinnati. I’ll add one quote from the book; “We must ask ourselves, Who am I trying to please? The worker endeavors to please his boss. The child, his parents. The pupil, his teacher. But for the believer, underpinning all that must be a heartfelt commitment to be able to say with Paul, “We make it our goal to please him” (2 Corinthians 5:9).

These, above and below, are all books we ordered in December that are waiting for us to read. We need another bookcase!

With a whole year ahead it shouldn’t be too difficult to read through these books.

What is on your bookshelf that you want to read this year?

Lo! He Comes With Clouds Descending

Lo! He Comes With Clouds Descending

Lo! He comes with clouds des­cend­ing,
Once for fa­vored sin­ners slain;
Thousand, thou­sand saints at­tend­ing,
Swell the tri­umph of His train:
Hallelujah! Hal­le­lujah! Hal­le­lu­jah!
God ap­pears on earth to reign.

Every eye shall now be­hold Him
Robed in dread­ful ma­jes­ty;
Those who set at naught and sold Him,
Pierced and nailed Him to the tree,
Deeply wail­ing, deep­ly wail­ing, deep­ly wail­ing,
Shall the true Mes­si­ah see.

Every is­land, sea, and mount­ain,
Heav’n and earth, shall flee away;
All who hate Him must, con­found­ed,
Hear the trump pro­claim the day:
Come to judg­ment! Come to judg­ment!
Come to judg­ment! Come to judg­ment!
Come away!

Now redemp­tion, long ex­pect­ed,
See in so­lemn pomp ap­pear;
All His saints, by man re­ject­ed,
Now shall meet Him in the air:
Hallelujah! Hal­le­lu­jah! Hal­le­lu­jah!
See the day of God ap­pear!

Answer Thine own bride and Spir­it,
Hasten, Lord, the ge­ne­ral doom!
The new Heav’n and earth t’in­her­it,
Take Thy pin­ing ex­iles home:
All cre­ation, all cre­ation, all cre­ation,
Travails! groans! and bids Thee come!

The dear to­kens of His pas­sion
Still His daz­zling bo­dy bears;
Cause of end­less ex­ul­ta­tion
To His ran­somed wor­ship­ers;
With what rap­ture, with what rap­ture,
With what rap­ture
Gaze we on those glo­ri­ous scars!

Yea, Amen! let all adore Thee,
High on Thine eter­nal throne;
Savior, take the pow­er and glo­ry,
Claim the king­dom for Thine own;
O come quick­ly! O come quick­ly!
O come quick­ly!
Everlasting God, come down!

Charles Wesley

Arthur Pink ~ New Year’s Comfort 1943

Glory to God in highest heaven,
Who unto man His Son hath given;
While angels sing with tender mirth,
A glad new year to all the earth.
~Martin Luther

С новым годом!

This is a long but encouraging message for believers from Arthur Pink, an English Bible teacher written in 1943 which was a very troubling period in history during World War II.  Arthur Pink (1886-1952)

“As we launch out into another year, there is little visible prospect of a smooth and pleasant voyage. To the natural eye, the clouds are dark and fierce storms seem imminent. The very uncertainty of what the morrow may bring forth, fills many with uneasiness and trepidation. But how different should be the state of God’s children—an all-sufficient Object is presented to the eyes of their faith, from which unbelief derives no comfort. If the poor worldling is concerned with what lies before him, it is the blessed privilege of the believer to be occupied with Who goes before him—the One who is his Captain, his Guide, his Forerunner. “The Lord! HE it is who goes before you” (Deut. 31:8). What a difference that makes! O that writer and reader may be enabled to lay hold of this grand Truth as we enter another period of time and keep it steadily in mind throughout the coming days!
~
1. The Lord has gone before you in the grand decree of His PREDESTINATION. Last year was one of suspense and sorrow, of trial and trouble—and perhaps you tremble at what this one has in store. Well, here is solid comfort. Your future has all been marked out for you! You shall not tread a step which is not mapped on the grand chart of God’s foreordination. All your circumstances have been Divinely ordered for you. Ah, Christian reader, what an immense difference this makes that you are not a child of chance, that your lot is not decided by the caprice of fickle fortune. Infinite wisdom and infinite love have arranged everything. You will go nowhere during 1943—but where God has decreed, His “goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting” (Micah 5:2), planning your path, your life. A predestinating God has appointed “the bounds of your habitation” (Acts 17:26). You may be thrust into the furnace of affliction—yet you will not be deserted. You may be brought low—yet it will be for your future blessing. You may be chastened—yet the rod is in the hand of your Father.
“Your times of trial and of grief,
Your times of joy and sweet relief,
All shall come and last and end—
As shall please your heavenly Friend.”
~
2. The Lord has gone before you in the preparations of His PROVIDENCE. “My God shall supply all your needs” (Phil. 4:19), full provision has already been made for it. Jehovah does not have to improvise. No unexpected emergency can overtake Him, “known unto God are all His works from the beginning of the world” (Acts 15:18). Therefore is it written, “And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer” (Isaiah 65:24). Before we reach a place, God has provided for us wherever the road leads, all has been made ready. “He went in the way before you, to search you out a place to pitch your tents in” (Deut. 1:33); and He will not do less for His people today. Canaan was fully prepared for Israel long before they arrived there, “The Lord your God will soon bring you into the land he swore to give your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It is a land filled with large, prosperous cities that you did not build. The houses will be richly stocked with goods you did not produce. You will draw water from cisterns you did not dig, and you will eat from vineyards and olive trees you did not plant” (Deut. 6:10, 11). Here is comfort for the preacher too, “The Lord, He it is who goes before you,” to prepare hearts for the message, for the reception of the Truth.
~
3. The Lord has gone before you in PERSON. The path which He calls you to tread—has first been traversed by Himself. None other than the Lord of Glory became incarnate, entered this world of ours and tabernacled here for thirty-three years in the flesh, that He might be the Captain of our salvation (Heb. 2:10). “When He puts forth His own sheep, He goes before them” (John 10:4). Are they required to tread the way of obedience? Well, their Shepherd has Himself preceded them therein. Are they required to deny themselves and take up their cross? Well, He Himself did nothing less. Are they called upon to be buffeted, not for their faults but when they do well, to be persecuted for righteousness’ sake? Well, “Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that you should follow His steps” (1 Peter 2:21). What comfort is there here—that the trials we endure for the Truth’s sake, that the unkind treatment we meet with from professing brethren because we dare not compromise are an essential part of the process of our being conformed to the image of God’s Son! Shall we be called upon to pass through the valley of the shadow of death? Well, the Christian has nothing to fear, for Christ has gone before Him and extracted the sting of death.
~
4. The Lord has gone before you in the directions of His PRECEPTS. “Your Word is a lamp unto my feet—and a light unto my path” (Psalm 119:105), revealing the way of peace and blessing through this dark world. Especially is that true of its preceptive portions, for they make known the paths of righteousness which we are to tread. Ignorance of God’s will concerning the way we should go is inexcusable, for He has already clearly and definitely made known His will. The highway of holiness does not have to be made by us—it is there plainly enough before us in the Word and it is ours to walk in it. “You shall guide me with Your counsel—and afterward receive me to glory” (Psalm 73:24). A “guide” is one who goes before us, directing our course and the “counsel” of our Divine Guide is contained in His prohibitions and commandments and according as we heed them shall we escape the dangers around us and be kept in the narrow way which leads unto Life.
~
5. The Lord has gone before you in the provisions of His PROMISES. What are the Divine promises, but so many anticipations of our varied needs and guarantees, which God stands pledged to supply. They are so many proofs of His omniscience which foresaw what would meet our requirements. They are so many tokens of His loving-kindness to manifest His tender concerns for us, long before we had any historical existence. They are so many evidences of His faithfulness, that He will withhold no good thing from those who walk uprightly. Whatever tomorrow may hold, the Divine promises assure the Christian that the Lord has gone before and made every provision for him. No dire situation, no pressing emergency, no desperate peril can possibly arise, but what there is one of the “exceeding great and precious promises” (2 Peter 1:4) exactly suited to our case. Their value lies in the fact that they are the word of Him who cannot lie. “This God is our God forever and ever—He will be our Guide even unto death” (Psalm 48:14).
~
6. The Lord has gone before you into PARADISE. Did He not expressly announce before He left this scene, “In My Father’s House are many mansions—if it were not so I would have told you—I go to prepare a place for you” (John 14:2)? Not for Himself, but for His redeemed—nor would He entrust this task unto the angels. How it tells of the love of the Bridegroom for His Bride! Christ has entered Heaven on our behalf, taking possession thereof in our name, “where the Forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus” (Heb. 6:20). His entry, ensures ours. “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world” (John 17:24).
“The Lord, He it is who goes before you” (Deut. 31:8). Here, then, is real substantial comfort—and what shall be my response thereto?
~
First, my eye should be constantly fixed upon Him, “looking unto Jesus” (Heb. 12:2), looking away from all else, trusting none other.
Second, then it is my business to follow Him—for what other purpose is a Guide? “When He puts forth His own sheep, He goes before them, and the sheep follow Him” (John 10:4). And as they do, so they find that He makes them to lie down in green pastures, that He leads them beside the still waters. Ah, who would not follow such a Shepherd! O that the Lord may say of us as He did of Caleb, “he has followed Me fully” (Num. 14:24).
Third, then fear should be entirely banished from my heart. And will it not be so—if faith really lays hold of this, “The Lord, HE it is who goes before you, He will be with you, He will not fail you, neither forsake you; fear not, neither be dismayed” (Deut. 31:8).
~
That does not mean that all will be smooth sailing. It did not mean that for the Apostles, as the book of Acts shows. But it did mean that they were not left without a Pilot. HE not only went before them but gave assurance, “Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world” (Matthew 28:20). That is the grand consolation of this writer. May it be yours, too!“
~ Arthur Pink, “New Year’s Comfort” 1943

A Hodgepodge Happy New Year!

A Very Happy New Year to All! Welcome very soon to 2026!

This is my Happy New Year Post for Hodgepodgers. This post card was sent to Greg’s Great Great Aunt Emma. The card was sent from Chicago to Denver in 1906! It is a hundred year old Happy New Year greeting! The stamp was one cent. The written greeting is in Swedish.

Making room for the last Hodgepodge of 2025! Thank you, Joyce From This Side of the Pond.

1. Did you make resolutions or set goals for the year we’re waving goodbye? How did that work out for you? Will you set any goals for this new year, new season, or new month? Share one or two if you’d like to share. 

The only goal I set for 2025 was to read the Bible through alongside Everyday Gospel, A Daily Devotional Connecting Scripture to All of Life by Paul David Tripp. I found it to be a good combination and encouraging. One other highlight was using our Church History Study Bible with notes stretching back from the first and second centuries and reaching forward to the twentieth century. As the introduction states about the contributors in the notes, ‘these are theologians, pastors, poets, laity, all offering perspective on God’s Word’ to aid us in escaping the ‘tyranny of the present to see wisdom from the past’.

The Puritan John Owen (1616-1683) offers us this encouragement:

If you have any regard to the constancy of your faith, to the comfort of your life, the honor of God, or the salvation of your own soul, labor immediately to get your belief of the Word better founded. Read the Scripture constantly, study it seriously, search it diligently, hear it explained and applied by others, meditate on it yourself, and beg of God an understanding of it and a right faith in it. 

2. When did you have the most fun this year? 

This was the family Christmas card photo this year taken over Thanksgiving weekend.

Hands down the most fun always happened when we were together with family or dear friends! The joy, the belly laughs, the support, the one liners, and the love flowing made for memorable moments all through the year!

One of the belly laugh moments of 2025!

3. What’s a song or song lyric you’ll associate with 2025? Tell us why. 

Phil Wickham’s Hymn of Heaven because it is the hope that encourages me in my daily life. Songs of life that are filled with truth inspire me and cause me to worship God. This is important to me. Artists like The Getty’s,  Chris Tomlin, Phil Wickham, and others who sing what is true to the Bible are my favorites. I’m not a fan of imposters. It is my prayer that these and others stay true.

4. Best (or a favorite) bite of something delicious you tasted this year? 

I grew up on my dear mom’s blintzes but I’ve not made them for several years. This year I made them twice and they are so good to my taste buds and memories. I choose them for my best bite this year!

Before you ask…you can find the recipe for Nadia’s Blintzes here.

5. What do you want to do more of in the new year? Less of? 

I would like to read more good books this year. I would like to decrease my sugar intake this year.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Happy New Year to all my friends who stop by my blog. I appreciate each and every one of you! Wishing you a new year of peace and joy down in your hearts to stay…

Christmas Day 2025

Christmas day started quietly with just the two of us enjoying a Fancy Egg Scramble. I was able to set the table and make a few of the food preparations before the two sleighs from across the mountains arrived 3 minutes apart. Soon afterwards the Colville kids arrived and quiet was replaced with joyful chatter and anticipation of what Christmas day holds at Baba and Gramps’.

(A fair warning: This is a many many photo full post)

The centerpiece.

No white Christmas for us this year.

The birthday cake for Jesus arrived with the Bayles Mountain crew. Designed and planned by Addy and JJ and brought together by their mom. The stable, the star, Joseph, Mary, Baby Jesus, sheep, shepherd, 3 wise men and a donkey were all included!

Use your imagination and you’ll be able to see all the main participants. It took me a while to figure out that the marshmallows with the little bit of pretzel were the sheep!

This little guy was hungry and excited to see it was time to carve the Prime Rib Roast. He said, “that smells good!”

(A shout out to our local grocery store, Super 1, who offered their prime rib roasts at only $9.99 a pound, cut and tied. )

The menu consisted of Prime Rib, Yorkshire Pudding, Roasted Vegetables, and Creamed Corn (not from a can).

Christmas Day 008

This year the readings were from Luke, Hebrews and Philippians.

Christmas Crackers ready set Pull!

Presents and time for belly-laughs! Even though this was a ‘stocking gift’ year, the gifts seemed endless.

Time for comfy jammies or putting feet up watching a video sent to Addy and JJ from Great auntie Christina.

A Marco polo. Do any of you or your kids participate?

Here are some of our photos for our Christmas card greetings that we took over Thanksgiving weekend.

And that is a wrap of our preparing for and enjoying the day of celebrating the birth of Jesus with Angels watching over us all.

Boxing day and our For-Tea will be separate posts coming in the New Year!

O Light That Knew No Dawn ~ Hymn

O Light That Knew No Dawn

O light that knew no dawn,
That shines to end­less day,
All things in earth and Heav’n
Are lus­tered by Thy ray;
No eye can to Thy throne as­cend,
Nor mind Thy bright­ness com­pre­hend.

Thy grace, O Fa­ther, give,
That I might serve in fear;
Above all boons, I pray,
Grant me Thy voice to hear;
From sin Thy child in mer­cy free,
And let me dwell in light with Thee.

That, cleansed from stain of sin,
I may meet hom­age give;
And pure in heart, be­hold
Thy beau­ty while I live;
Clean hands in ho­ly wor­ship raise,
And Thee, O Christ my Sav­ior, praise.

In sup­pli­ca­tion meek
To Thee I bend the knee;
O Christ, when Thou shalt come,
In love re­mem­ber me,
And in Thy king­dom, by Thy grace,
Grant me a hum­ble serv­ant’s place.

Thy grace, O Fa­ther, give,
I hum­bly Thee implore;
And let Thy mer­cy bless
Thy serv­ant more and more.
All grace and glo­ry be to Thee,
From age to age eter­nal­ly.

Words: Gregory of Nazianzus, (325-390).

Merry Christmas 2025

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of heavenly host praising God and saying,

4

“Glory to God in the highest,

and on earth peace among those

with whom he is pleased!”

С Рождеством Христовым

(S Roždestvom Khristovym)

On the birth of Christ a very Merry Christmas to you and yours!

Nativities

…the occasion of a person’s birth. A picture carving or model representing Jesus Christ’s birth.

Even though the Wise men from the East did not appear on the scene till months after the birth of Jesus they are depicted in many traditional Nativity scenes. I like to try to put them far off as if they are still traveling.

“My Christ he is the Lord of lords,

He is the King of kings

He is the Sun of righteousness

With healing in his wings.

My Christ, he is the heaven of heaven

My Christ what shall I call?

My Christ is first, my Christ is last,

My Christ is All in All.”

I had to wait till dark to get a good shot of the nativity set we like to put above our front door.

When JJ was here last Monday afternoon, he set this Little People Nativity on the window ledge.

‘Welcome to our wondering sight,

Eternity within a span!

Summer in winter! Day in night!

Heaven in earth! And God in man!

Great little One, whose glorious birth

Lifts earth to heaven, stoops heaven to earth.’

Quotes taken from Christ’s Glorious Achievements, What Jesus Has Done for You. by C. H. Spurgeon

Here are the last few sentences from this book:

“I hope that among those who have read these pages there will be many whom the Lord Jesus has specially redeemed with his most precious blood, and I trust he will appear at once to them, and say, ‘I have loved thee with an everlasting love, therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn thee.’ By grace omnipotent may you be  made to yield to the Lord with the cheerful consent of your conquered wills, and accept that glorious grace which will bring you to praise the seeking and saving Saviour in heaven.”

May the miracle of Christmas and the redemptive, saving work of Jesus Christ on the Cross lead you to repentance with belief and new life in Him. He alone gives us grace and peace.

See Amid the Winter’s Snow ~ Hymn

See Amid the Winter’s Snow

See amid the win­ter’s snow,
Born for us on earth be­low,
See, the gen­tle Lamb ap­pears,
Promised from eter­nal years.

Refrain

Hail thou ev­er bless­èd morn!
Hail re­demp­tion’s hap­py dawn!
Sing through all Je­ru­sa­lem:
Christ is born in Beth­le­hem!

Lo, with­in a man­ger lies
He who built the star­ry skies;
He who, throned in height sub­lime,
Sits amid the cher­ub­im!

Refrain

Say, you ho­ly shep­herds, say,
Tell your joy­ful news to­day;
Wherefore have you left your sheep
On the lone­ly mount­ain steep?

Refrain

As we watched at dead of night,
Lo, we saw a won­drous light;
Angels sing­ing Peace on earth
Told us of the Sav­ior’s birth.

Refrain

Sacred In­fant, all di­vine,
What a ten­der love was Thine;
Thus to come from high­est bliss
Down to such a world as this.

Refrain

Teach, O teach us, ho­ly Child,
By Thy face so meek and mild,
Teach us to re­sem­ble Thee,
In Thy sweet hu­mil­ity!

Refrain

Words: Edward Caswall, 1851.

Truth for Today #174

Friday December 19th

On Fridays my posts will include verses that stood out in my readings from the Bible during week. One, two, three or maybe more. If you have a verse/verses that you read during the week and would like to share, leave it/them in the comments and I will add it/them to the post. Let’s continue to dig deep into God’s truth.

The verses that you share are appreciated and so encouraging, I’m thankful for them and for each of you! 

Announcement: I will be pausing my Friday Truth for Today Posts until the New Year, resuming on January 9th.

Hebrews 3:1-6:

Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in the heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession, who was faithful to him who appointed him, just as Moses also was faithful in all God’s house. For Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses–as much more glory as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself. (For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.) Now Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant, to testify to the things that were spoken later, but Christ is faithful over God’s house as a son. And we are his house, if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.

Hebrews 3:12-15:

Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. As it is said, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”

From Dianna:

“And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways; To give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins, Through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us,”

Luke 1:76-78 KJV

From Vera:

“Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us).”

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭1‬:‭23‬ ‭ESV‬‬

From Barbara:

Luke 1:45

Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill His promises to her.