Soldiers of Christ, Arise

I was going to narrow down the 16 stanzas of this hymn/poem that Charles Wesley wrote but on second thought decided to post it all. I’m putting the definitions of some of the ‘old’ words at the end for my benefit and maybe yours.

Soldiers of Christ, Arise

Soldiers of Christ, arise,
And put your armor on,
Strong in the strength which God supplies
Through His eternal Son.
Strong in the Lord of hosts,
And in His mighty power,
Who in the strength of Jesus trusts
Is more than conqueror.

Stand then in His great might,
With all His strength endued,
And take, to arm you for the fight,
The panoply of God;
That, having all things done,
And all your conflicts past,
Ye may o’ercome through Christ alone
And stand entire at last.

Stand then against your foes,
In close and firm array;
Legions of wily fiends oppose
Throughout the evil day;
But meet the sons of night,
And mock their vain design,
Armed in the arms of heavenly light,
Of righteousness divine.

Leave no unguarded place,
No weakness of the soul,
Take every virtue, every grace,
And fortify the whole;
Indissolubly joined,
To battle all proceed;
But arm yourselves with all the mind
That was in Christ, your head.

Let truth the girdle be,
That binds your armor on,
In faithful, firm sincerity
To Jesus cleave alone.
Let faith and love combine
To guard your valiant breast:
The plate be righteousness divine,
Imputed, and impressed.

Still let your feet be shod,
Ready His will to do,
Ready in all the ways of God
His glory to pursue:
Ruin is spread beneath,
The Gospel greaves put on,
And safe through all the snares of death
To life eternal run.

But, above all, lay hold
On faith’s victorious shield;
Armed with that adamant and gold,
Be sure to win the field:
If faith surround your heart,
Satan shall be subdued,
Repelled his every fiery dart,
And quenched with Jesus’ blood.

Jesus hath died for you!
What can His love withstand?
Believe, hold fast your shield, and who
Shall pluck you from His hand?
Believe that Jesus reigns,
All power to Him is given:
Believe, till freed from sin’s remains;
Believe yourselves to Heaven.

Your Rock can never shake:
Hither, He saith, come up!
The helmet of salvation take,
The confidence of hope:
Hope for His perfect love,
Hope for His people’s rest,
Hope to sit down with Christ above,
And share the marriage feast.

Brandish in faith till then
The Spirit’s two-edged sword,
Hew all the snares of fiends and men
In pieces with the Word;
’Tis written; This applied
Baffles their strength and art;
Spirit and soul with this divide,
And joints and marrow part.

To keep your armor bright,
Attend with constant care,
Still walking in your captain’s sight,
And watching unto prayer.
Ready for all alarms,
Steadfastly set your face,
And always exercise your arms,
And use your every grace.

Pray without ceasing, pray,
Your captain gives the word;
His summons cheerfully obey
And call upon the Lord;
To God your every want
In instant prayer display,
Pray always; pray and never faint,
Pray, without ceasing, pray!

In fellowship; alone,
To God with faith draw near;
Approach His courts, besiege His throne
With all the powers of prayer:
Go to His temple, go,
Nor from His altar move;
Let every house His worship know,
And every heart His love.

To God your spirits dart,
Your souls in words declare,
Or groan, to Him who reads the heart,
The unutterable prayer.
His mercy now implore,
And now show forth His praise,
In shouts, or silent awe, adore
His miracles of grace.

Pour out your souls to God,
And bow them with your knees,
And spread your hearts and hands abroad,
And pray for Sion’s peace;
Your guides, and brethren, bear
For ever on your mind;
Extend the arms of mighty prayer,
In grasping all mankind.

From strength to strength go on,
Wrestle, and fight, and pray,
Tread all the powers of darkness down,
And win the well-fought day;
Still let the Spirit cry
In all His soldiers, Come!
Till Christ the Lord descends from high
And takes the conquerors home.

Words: Charles Wesley, 1741.

endued: endow or provide with a quality or ability (past tense)

Panoply: a complete set of arms or suit of armor.

Indissolubly: in a way that is impossible to take apart or bring to an end, or exists for a very long time.

Imputed: Justification is an act of God’s free grace, wherein he pardons all our sins, and accepts us as righteous in his sight, only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, and received by faith alone.

greaves: a piece of armor used to protect the shin

Poblano Boats

These Poblano halves are filled with a mixture of Blue Cheese, diced apples, and walnuts. The heat of the Poblano pepper adds a nice kick to these crunchy boats of goodness. Serve as a salad or an appetizer. You can increase the recipe if you’d like to serve more than two people. You can also leave the Poblano whole, cutting a slit in it when you remove the seed instead of cutting the pepper in half, then stuffing it with the filling.

Ingredients for 2 servings:

1 Poblano Pepper, roasting over open flame, peeled and seeded, some instructions to follow
1 cup finely chopped diced apples
1/2 fresh lemon, juiced
1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup mixed salad greens
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

Methods for roasting peppers:

If you have a gas stove top you can turn one burner to medium and hold the pepper over the open flame with tongs, turning until all sides are blackened and blistered, make sure your oven fan is on.
After roasting the pepper place in brown paper bag and seal the bag to keep the steam inside the bag.
When it cools put disposable gloves on and take the pepper out of the bag.
The peel should come off easily at this point, you can use paper towels to rub the skin off.
After peeling it, cut a slit down one side and using your gloved hands remove all the seeds.
At this point place on a paper towel and refrigerate the pepper till you are ready to stuff it.
Another method is to roast the peppers under the broiler of your oven for 5 minutes.
You can also use your outdoor grill to roast the peppers.
Whichever method you use, don’t forget step 2.

Method for the filling:

Place the apples in a ceramic bowl and lightly coat them with the lemon juice.
Combine the cheese and walnuts with the apples and toss.
Cut the chilled pepper in half and place on top of a platter of salad greens.
Fill each half of the pepper with the mixture of apples, walnuts and cheese.
Whisk together the olive oil and red wine vinegar well and drizzle generously over the filled peppers.
Serve immediately.

Tip: If you want to make more of these to serve 4-8 people you could roast 4 peppers ahead of time and keep them refrigerated until you are ready to serve these as an appetizer or salad. Just double the filling portion of the recipe.

Robins Old and New

We don’t remember them with white on the tail feathers like this.

This young one was just improving it’s flying skills, just fresh from the nest.

If you squint you can see the little one on the branch to the left. It flew up into the trees in our front yard.

It’s been fun to watch the festivities of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee! We recorded it and are slowly making our way through.

In other news we have had to turn from heat to air conditioning the last couple of days and the Columbine is blooming beautifully!

Hope your first weekend in June is a good one.

Truth for Today #21

Thursday June 2nd

On Thursdays my posts will include verses that stood out in my readings from the Bible during the 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 dig deep in God’s Truth this year!

Note: I will not be posting a Truth for Today on June 9th as I will be traveling and away from my computer. It will resume on June 16th.

Colossians 1:21-23

And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I Paul, became a minister.

I’m adding a paragraph from Alistair Begg’s devotional, Truth for Life, on these verses:

“The good news of the gospel is the fact that Jesus of Nazareth came on our behalf to bring an end to our alienation. He, and He alone, has done what we most need but could not do for ourselves. So the call to us is very simple: to “continue in the faith…not shifting from…the gospel.” We never need to move on from the simple gospel of Christ crucified, risen, and reigning; in fact, we dare not. And yet how easy it is for us to grow cold to these truths; for familiarity to breed if not contempt, then complacency. So consider your heart honestly. Acknowledge your sin. And come back to the gospel once more, in awe “that thou, my God, shouldst die for me.”

From Vera:

“So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.”
‭‭1 Peter‬ ‭2:1-3‬ ‭

From Leonard:

2 Timothy 2:22
“So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.”

Cousins!

Wednesday Hodgepodge is not happening this week but will be back next week.

Our sons and their families enjoyed part and all of the Memorial Day Weekend in Arizona with their cousins.

Our kids and two of my sister’s kids gathered for their annual Memorial Day Weekend in Arizona. What a delight to see them all together enjoying one another. Our kids from Washington State and nieces and nephews from California.

The grands and their parents were able to drop in for a day and surprise everyone! They had responsibilities elsewhere for the rest of the weekend. Addy and JJ were so pleased to see their beloved Auntie Lolo, Uncle Joshie and their other ‘cousins once removed’.

It’s fun to document these special times and add it to our family history.

“Stay together, Love each other” Their Dzeda (grandfather) left them with that encouragement and they are doing a good job listening.

Spring is Moving Fast…

…and our Grands are growing fast! They are wondering how they are going to retrieve their ball that managed to leave their 20 acres and land in a neighboring property.

More fun events happening for them this Spring.

They have enjoyed some sunshine and pool time which is always a treat.

Lots of sunblock and time in sunhats.

JJ looks a bit miffed here. Maybe he didn’t like getting out of the water for the photo.

Time out of the heat at a very cool library.

I’m enjoying the seasons with these two and I’m glad I have photos and memories of the different stages of their growth.

And just like that we are at the last day of May. If I’m counting right we have 21 days until summer begins.

Memorial Day 2022

Blades of grass and pure white stones

Shelter those who’ve come and gone.

Just below the emerald sod

Are those who reached the arms of God.

Buried here with dignity

Endless rows for all to see,

Freedom’s seeds in sorrow sown,

‘Neath blades of grass and pure white stones.

Blades of grass and pure white stones

Cover those who left their homes

To rest in fields here, side by side,

Lest we forget their sacrifice.

Buried here with dignity

Endless rows for all to see,

Freedom’s seeds in sorrow sown,

‘Neath blades of grass and pure white stones.

Written by Lowell Alexander, Orrin Hatch, and Philip Naish.

More Love to Thee, O Christ ~Hymn

More Love To Thee, O Christ

More love to Thee, O Christ,
More love to Thee!
Hear Thou the prayer I make
On bended knee.
This is my earnest plea—
More love, O Christ, to Thee;
More love to Thee,
More love to Thee!

Once earthly joy I craved,
Sought peace and rest;
Now Thee alone I seek,
Give what is best.
This all my prayer shall be—
More love, O Christ to Thee;
More love to Thee,
More love to Thee!

Let sorrow do its work,
Send grief or pain;
Sweet are Thy messengers,
Sweet their refrain,
When they can sing with me—
More love, O Christ, to Thee;
More love to Thee,
More love to Thee!

Then shall my latest breath
Whisper Thy praise;
This be the parting cry
My heart shall raise;
This still its prayer shall be—
More love, O Christ to Thee;
More love to Thee,
More love to Thee!

Words: Elizabeth P. Prentiss, 1856.