Under Thy Wise Control

mom-away-day-2-059He metes the waters. . .

Psalm 25:10.
All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth
unto such as keep His covenant and His testimonies.

Speak, Lord, for Thy servant heareth,
Speak peace to my anxious soul,
And help me to feel that all my ways
Are under Thy wise control;
That He who cares for the lily,
And heeds the sparrows’ fall,
Shall tenderly lead His loving child:
For He made and loveth all.
ANON.

“Speak, Lord, in the stillness,
While I wait on Thee;
Hushed my heart to listen
In expectancy.

“Speak, O blessed Master,
In this quiet hour;
Let me see Thy face, Lord,
Feel Thy touch of power.

“For the words Thou speakest,
‘They are life,’ indeed;
Living bread from Heaven,
Now my spirit feed!

“Speak, Thy servant heareth!
Be not silent, Lord;
Waits my soul upon Thee
For the quickening word!”

Published in: on September 20, 2016 at 4:34 am  Leave a Comment  
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We Can Only Choose

mom-away-day-2-046

Pray for us unto the Lord thy God…
that the Lord thy God may show us the way wherein we may walk,
and the thing that we may do.
Jeremiah 42: 2, 3.

“We can’t choose happiness either for ourselves or for another;
we can’t tell where that will lie.
We can only choose whether we will indulge ourselves
in the present moment, or whether we will renounce that,
for the sake of obeying the Divine voice within us,
–for the sake of being true to all the motives that sanctify our lives.
I know this belief is hard;
it has slipped away from me again and again;
but I have felt that if I let it go forever,
I should have no light through the darkness of this life.”
GEORGE ELIOT.

That which I see not, teach Thou me.–Job 34:32

Jeremiah 42:2-3
And said unto Jeremiah the prophet, Let, we beseech thee,
our supplication be accepted before thee,
and pray for us unto the LORD thy God,
even for all this remnant;
(for we are left but a few of many, as thine eyes do behold us:)
That the LORD thy God may shew us the way
wherein we may walk,
and the thing that we may do.

Published in: on September 19, 2016 at 11:25 am  Leave a Comment  
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See God in Everything

spiderSpider lilies

1 Samuel 3:18
It is the Lord: let him do what seemeth him good

“Give me a new idea,” I said,
While musing on a sleepless bed;
“A new idea that’ll bring to earth
A balm for souls of priceless worth;
That’ll give men thoughts of things above,
And teach them how to serve and love,
That’ll banish every selfish thought,
And rid men of the sins they’ve fought.”
The new thought came, just how, I’ll tell:
‘Twas when on bended knee I fell,
And sought from HIM who knows full well
The way our sorrow to expel.
SEE GOD IN ALL THINGS, great and small,
And give HIM praise whate’er befall,
In life or death, in pain or woe,
See God, and overcome thy foe.

I saw HIM in the morning light,
HE made the day shine clear and bright;
I saw HIM in the noontide hour,
And gained from HIM refreshing shower.
At eventide, when worn and sad,
HE gave me help, and made me glad.
At midnight, when on tossing bed
My weary soul to sleep HE led.
I saw HIM when great losses came,
And found HE loved me just the same.
When heavy loads I had to bear,
I found HE lightened every care.
By sickness, sorrow, sore distress,
HE calmed my mind and gave me rest.
HE’S filled my heart with gladsome praise
Since I gave HIM the upward gaze.

‘Twas new to me, yet old to some,
This thought that to me has become
A revelation of the way
We all should live throughout the day;
For as each day unfolds its light,
We’ll walk by faith and not by sight.
Life will, indeed, a blessing bring,
If we SEE GOD IN EVERYTHING.”
–A. E. Finn

Published in: on September 17, 2016 at 10:30 am  Leave a Comment  
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We Shall Not Be Overcome

shieldTake the Shield of Faith

I do not fight with merely human weapons.
No, the weapons with which I war
are not weapons of mere flesh and blood,
but in the strength of the Lord,
they arre mighty enough
to raze all stongholds of our foes.
I can batter down bulwarks of human reason;
I can scale every crag-fortress that towers up
bidding defiance to the true knowledge of God.
I can make each rebel purpose my prisoner of war
and bow it into susbmission to Messiah.
2 Corinthians 10:4-5 Way’s translation

Tempested on the sea of life;
Travailed sore, amid earth’s strife;
Afflicted often, and sore dismayed;
Look, faint heart be not afraid,
Thou shalt not be overcome!

God’s ways are far beyond our ken;
His thoughts are not the thoughts of men;
And He knoweth what is best for you.
Hope on, my friend, He will bear you through.
Thou shalt not be overcome!

Though “The reason why” we cannot see,
Our Father knows–’tis enough that we
But trust His love, when our eyes are dim.
Look up! Hold fast! though the fight is grim.
We shall not be overcome!
Mary E. Thompson

2Corinthians 10:4-5
(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal,
but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)
Casting down imaginations,
and every high thing that exalteth itself
against the knowledge of God,
and bringing into captivity every thought
to the obedience of Christ;

Published in: on September 16, 2016 at 10:30 am  Leave a Comment  
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“What Else Could I Do?”

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Philippians 3:7-9
But what things were gain to me,
those I counted loss for Christ.
Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss
for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord:
for whom I have suffered the loss of all things,
and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,
And be found in him,
not having mine own righteousness,
which is of the law,
but that which is through the faith of Christ,
the righteousness which is of God by faith:

The Swedish Nightingale, Jennie Lind,
won great success as an operatic singer,
and money poured into her purse.
Yet she left the stage
while she was singing her best,
and never returned to it.
She must have missed the money,
the fame, and the applause of thousands,
but she was content to live in privacy.
Once and English friend found her sitting
on the steps of a bathing machine
on the sea sands with a Bible on her knee,
looking out into the glory of a sunset.
“Oh, Madame Goldschmidt,
how is it that you came to abandon the stage
at the very height of our success?”
“When every day,” was the quiet answer,
“it made me think less of this
(laying a finger on the Bible)
and nothing at all of that (pointing to the sunset),
what else could I do?”

Published in: on September 14, 2016 at 10:43 am  Leave a Comment  
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Our Lord’s Foresight

nov23 010The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD

Psalm 139:17-18
How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God!
how great is the sum of them!
If I should count them,
they are more in number than the sand:
when I awake, I am still with thee.

Nothing is more beautiful than our Lord’s foresight!

There never was anyone so faithful or considerate
or farseeing as Jesus.
He had great commendation to give a woman,
because she came “beforehand” with her ministry. (John 12:1-8)
It was His own manner to anticipate events.
He was always thinking ahead of the disciples.
When He sent His disciples to prepare the Passover,
there was found an upper room furished and prepared.
He had thought it all out.
His plans were not made only for that day.
He was always in advance of time.
When the disciples cam back from fishing,
Jesus was on the seashore with a fire of coals and fish laid thereon.
He thinks of the morning duties before you are astir;
He is there beore you.
He is waiting long befoe you are awake.
His anticipations are all along the way of life before you.

After the Resurrection,
the disciples were bewildered,
and the way looked black.
But the angel said,
“Behold, he goeth before you into Galilee.”
He is always ahead,
thinking ahead,
preparing ahead.
Take this text with you into the future,
take it into today’s experience:
“Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. . .
I go to prepare a place for you.” (John 14:1-2)
He is out in the world doing it.
He will be there before you.
He will bring you to your appointed place,
and you will find your appointed resources.
You will discover His insight, His oversight, and His forsesight.
You may not always see Him,
but you can walk by faith in the dark
if you know that He sees you,
and you can sing as you journey,
even through the night.
John MacBeath

Isaiah 55:8-9
For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways,
and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Published in: on September 13, 2016 at 10:24 am  Leave a Comment  
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Waters to Swim In

spiderMy favorites, Spider Lilies, are back!

Apollinaire said,
‘Come to the edge’
‘It is too high’
‘Come to the edge’
‘We might fall’
‘Come to the edge’
And they came.
And he pushed them.
And they flew.
Anonoymous

Ezekiel 47:3-5
And when the man that had the line in his hand
went forth eastward,
he measured a thousand cubits,
and he brought me through the waters;
the waters were to the ankles.
Again he measured a thousand,
and brought me through the waters;
the waters were to the knees.
Again he measured a thousand,
and brought me through;
the waters were to the loins.
Afterward he measured a thousand;
and it was a river that I could not pass over:
for the waters were risen,
waters to swim in,
a river that could not be passed over.

Published in: on September 12, 2016 at 10:33 am  Leave a Comment  
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