Today’s thought – The God that Performeth

july 1 farmer walk 002the Farmer’s pickings as he walked around Cozy Acres.

Good Morning

Luke 1:45-46
And blessed is she that believed: for there shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the Lord. And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord,

“My words shall be fulfilled in their season”
(there fixed appointed time). –Greek Luke 1:20

There shall be a performance of those things
That loving heart hath waited long to see;
Those words shall be fulfilled to which she clings,
Because her God hath promised faithfully;
And, knowing Him, she ne’er can doubt His Word;
“He speaks and it is done.” The mighty Lord!

There shall be a performance of those things.
O burdened heart, rest ever in His care;
In quietness beneath His shadowing wings
Await the answer to thy longing prayer.
When thou hast “cast thy care,” the heart then sings,
There shall be a performance of those things.

There shall be a performance of those things,
O tired heat, believe and wait and pray;
At eventide the peaceful vesper rings,
Though cloud and rain and storm have filled the day.
Faith pierces through the mist of doubt that bars
The coming night sometimes, and finds the stars.

There shall be a performance of those things,
O trusting heart, the Lord to thee hath told;
Let Faith and Hope arise, and plume their wings,
And soar towards the sunrise clouds of gold;
The portals of the rosy dawn swing wide.
Revealing joys the darkening night did hide.
~~~Bessie Porter

Job 23:14
For he performeth the thing that is appointed for me: and many such things are with him.

Psalm 57:2
I will cry unto God most high; unto God that performeth all things for me.

Matthew Henry says: “We must depend upon the performance of the promise, when all the ways leading up to it are shut up. ‘For all the promises of God in him are yea (yes) and in him Amen (so be it), unto the glory of God by us.'” I Corinthians 1:20

“Cast thy care” . . .Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie

Published in: on July 3, 2014 at 9:55 am  Comments (1)  
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Today’s thought – He Walked with God

june13 001The garden is growing and the Farmer is picking.

Good Morning

Genesis 5:21-24
And Enoch lived sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah:
And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters:
And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years:
And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.

“He walked with God!” Could gander words be written?
Not much of what he thought or said is told.
Not where or what he wrought is even mentioned.
He “walked with God”–brief words of fadeless gold.
How many souls were succoured on his journey . . .
Helped by his words, or prayers, we may not know
Still, this we read–words of excelling grandeur—
He “walked with God, while yet he walked below.
~~~~ Danson Smith

Walk with God . . .Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie

Published in: on July 2, 2014 at 4:55 am  Leave a Comment  
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Today’s thought – A Man Called Peter

june27 pink 001I really like these cushion zinnias.

Good Morning

Matthew 4:19
“Follow Me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you a fisher of men”

This is how Simon Peter’s journey with Jesus began — he was given a vision of being something other than what he was. It is also how our journeys begin. Christ saw him not simply as he was, but as he would be. And Jesus committed Himself to making Peter everything he had the potential of becoming. But Peter had to answer the call. And so do you.
Peter could have said no. He could have stayed with the nets and the boat and the fish, and followed in the traditions of his father. He could have remained in Capernaum, his home town, and lived out his days in anonymous mediocrity. And so can you.
But Peter said yes! And as a result, he not only walked on water—he walked into history! He became a cherished hero to millions of Christ-followers throughout history, who see in Peter so much of themselves.
Jesus gave him vision, and this produced a passion that marked Peter throughout his life. His eagerness to impress Jesus, his moodiness when rebuked, his crazy zeal in vowing to be faithful when others fell away — all these and more stem from his deep, abiding passion for Christ.
The Lord added to Peter’s vision and passion the necessary ingredient of discipline — otherwise Peter would not have gone the distance. He responded to the process of being disciplined, and was therefore not only willing, but able, to take remarkable risks as a faithful follower of Jesus. Vision, passion, discipline and risk. That’s how Peter did it.   ~~ Rylie

Follow Jesus . . . Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie

Published in: on July 1, 2014 at 4:35 am  Leave a Comment  
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Today’s thought – Have Faith and See God

june30 veggiesSee what the Farmer picked this morning . . .
along with 4 five gallon buckets of a variety of cucumbers!

Good Morning

Numbers 13:17, 25, 27-31, 33
17 And Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, . . .
25 And they returned from searching of the land after forty days.
27 And they told him, and said, We came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it.
28 Nevertheless the people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled, and very great: and moreover we saw the children of Anak there.
29 The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south: and the Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Amorites, dwell in the mountains: and the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and by the coast of Jordan.
30 And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it.
31 But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we.
33 And there we saw the giants,

Yes, they saw the giants, but Caleb and Joshua saw God!
Those who doubt say, “We be not able to go up.”
Those who believe say, “Let us go up at once and possess it,
for we are well able.”

Giants stand for great difficulties;
and giants are stalking everywhere.
They are in our families, in our churches,
in our social life, in our own hearts;
and we must overcome them or they will eat us up,
as these men of old said of the giants of Canaan.

The men of faith said,
“They are bread for us; we will eat them up.”
In other words, “We will be stronger by overcoming them than if there had been no giants to overcome.”

. . . Let us have the spirit of faith that these men of faith had, and see God, and He will take care of the difficulties. Selected.

See God . . .Today
With my prayers,desiring yours, Leslie

Published in: on June 30, 2014 at 11:13 am  Leave a Comment  
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Today’s thought – Revive Me

P1030215Hollyhocks

Good Morning

Psalm 138:7-8
7 Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me: thou shalt stretch forth thine hand against the wrath of mine enemies, and thy right hand shall save me.

8 The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me: thy mercy, O Lord, endureth for ever: forsake not the works of thine own hands.

It is very helpful to make a habit of offering,
morning by morning,
the troubles of the day just beginning
to our dear Lord,
accepting His will in all things.
especially in all little personal trials and vexations.
Some persons have found great benefit from making,
when first they wake,
the act taught to Madame de Chantal by St. Francis de Sales,
accepting “all things tolerable and intolerable”
for the love of Christ;
then at midday,
a moment’s inward search to see
whether there has been any voluntary slackening of submission,
any deliberate opposition to God’s will,
and hesitation in resisting the distaste or fretfulness,
the impatience or discouragement we are tempted to feel
when things go contrary to our own will and likings,
making a fresh resolution to go on heartily;
and, at night,
a quick review of the day’s failures for which to ask pardon,
and strength to go on better anew.
Some such habit as this is a great check
to that terrible hindrance of the spiritual life
which terrible though it be
is so apt to steal upon many good and earnest souls,
–a complaining, grumbling self=pitying spirit.
H. L. Sidney Lear

Check me . . . Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie

Published in: on June 26, 2014 at 4:42 am  Leave a Comment  
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Today’s thought – God’s Promises

june 16 008
Good Morning

2 Peter 1:4
Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

If you would know experimentally
the preciousness of the promises,
and enjoy then in your heart,
meditate much upon them.
There are promises which are like grapes in the wine-press;
if you will tread them the juice will flow.
Thinking over the hallowed words will often be
the prelude to their fulfillment.
Many a Christian who has thirsted for the promise
has found the favor which it ensured gently distilling into his soul
even while he has been considering the divine record;
and he has rejoiced that ever he was led to lay
the promise near his heart.

But besides mediating upon the promises,
seek in thy soul to receive them as being the very words of God.
Speak to thy soul thus,
“my soul, it is God, even thy God,
God that cannot lie, who peaks to thee.
therefore, seeing that it is the word of a God so true,
so immutable, so powerful, so wise,
I will and must believe the promise.”

Believe . . . Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie

Published in: on June 24, 2014 at 4:54 am  Leave a Comment  
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Today’s thought – Go Forward

June 4 018I think grapes vines are beautiful in every season.

Good Morning

Matthew 14:14-32
24 But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves: for the wind was contrary.
25 And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea.
26 And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear.
27 But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid.
28 And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water.
29 And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus.
30 But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me.
31 And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?
32 And when they were come into the ship, the wind ceased.

Peter had a little faith in the midst o his doubts, says Bunyan; and so with crying coming he was brought to Christ.

but here you see that sight was a hindrance; the waves were none of his business when once he had set out;
all Peter had any concern with, was the pathway of light that come gleaming across the darkness from where Christ stood. If it was tenfold Egypt beyond that, Peter had no call to look and see.

When the Lord shall call to you over the waters, “Come,” step gladly forth. Look not for a moment away from Him.

Not by measuring the waves can you prevail; not by gauging the wind will you grow strong; to scan the danger may be to fall before it; to pause at the difficulties, is to have them break above your head. Lift up your eyes unto the hills, and go forward–there is not other way. selected

Lift up your eyes . . .Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie

Published in: on June 23, 2014 at 4:21 am  Leave a Comment  

Today’s thought – I Have Finished . . .

June 4 026We’re picking the last of these wonderful boysenberries. I love them.

Good Morning

2 Timothy 4:7
I have finished my course.

There is a course prepared for each believer from the moment of his new birth, providing for the fullest maturity of the new life within him, and the highest which God can make of his life in the use of every faculty for His service. To discover that course and fulfill it is the one duty of every soul. Others cannot judge what that course is, God alone knows it. And God can just as certainly make known and guide the believer into that course today, as He did with Jeremiah and other prophets, Paul and Timothy and other apostles. J. P. L.

Why do I drift on a storm-tossed sea,
With neither compass, nor star, nor chart,
When , as I drift, God’s own plan for me
Waits at the door of my slow-trusting heart?

Down from the heavens it drops like a scroll,
Each day a bit will the Master unroll,
Each day a mite of the veil will He lift.
Why do I falter? Why wander, and drift?

Drifting, while God’s at the helm to steer;
Groping, when God lays the course so clear;
Swerving, though straight into port I might sail;
Wrecking, when heaven lies just within hail.

Help me, O God, in the plan to believe;
Help me my fragment each day to receive;
Oh, that my will may with Thine have no strife!
God-yielded wills find the God-planned life.
James H. McConkey

Yield . . .Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie

Published in: on June 20, 2014 at 4:10 am  Leave a Comment  
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Today’s thought – If Ye Shall Ask

june30-july1.12 monterey 022Sunset

Good Morning

John 14:14
If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.

The God who holds the sea in the hollow of His hand,
who swings this ponderous earth in its orbit,
who marshals stars and guides planets,
is this very God who says.
“If ye ask, I will do!”
James H. McConkey

Ask. . .Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie

Published in: on June 19, 2014 at 4:36 am  Leave a Comment  
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Today’s thought – Living in God’s Presence

silouetteSunrise

Good Morning,

Ephesians 6:18
Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;

How do I live in God’s presence?
How do I detect his unseen hand on my shoulder and his inaudible voice in my ear? . . .
How can you and I grow familiar wit the voice of God?
Here are a few ideas:

Give God your waking thoughts.
Before you face the day, face the Father.
Before you step out of bed, step into his presence.

Give God your waiting thoughts.
Spend time with him in silence.

Give God your whispering thoughts.
Imagine considering every moment as a potential time of communion with God.

Give God your waning thoughts.
At the end of the day; let your mind settle on him.
Conclude the day as you began it: talking to God.

Just Like Jesus – Max Lucado

Give God . . .Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie

Published in: on June 18, 2014 at 4:20 am  Leave a Comment  
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Today’s thought – I Am the Vine

April 22 - planting 002
Good Morning

John 15:1-5
I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.

2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.

3 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.

4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.

5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

Open wide every avenue of your being to receive the blessed influences your Divine Husbandman may bring to bear upon you.
Bask in the sunshine of His love.
Drink in of the waters of His goodness.
Keep your face upturned to Him.
You need make no efforts to grow.
But let your efforts instead be all concentrated on this,
that you abide in the Vine.
Hannah Whitall Smith

Abide in Him . . . Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie

Published in: on June 17, 2014 at 4:14 am  Leave a Comment  
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Today’s thought – It’s Raining Tenderness . . .

2009 QubecHappy 47th Anniversary to us.

Good Afternoon,

Genesis 41:50-52
50 And unto Joseph were born two sons before the years of famine came, which Asenath the daughter of Potipherah priest of On bare unto him.

51 And Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh:
For God, said he, hath made me forget all my toil, and all my father’s house.

52 And the name of the second called he Ephraim:
For God hath caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction.

. . . Perchance some of God’s children are even now saying,
“O God, it is raining hard for me tonight.”

“Testings are raining upon me
which seem beyond my power to endure.
Disappointments are raining fast,
to the utter defeat of my plans.
Bereavements are raining into mu life which are making my shrinking heart quiver in its intensity of suffering.
The rain of affliction is surely beating down upon my soul these days.”

With, friend, you are mistaken.
It isn’t raining rain for you.
It’s raining blessing.
For, if you will but believe your Father’s Word,
under that beating rain are springing up spiritual flowers of such fragrance and beauty as never before grew in that stormless, unchastened life of yours.

You indeed see the rain.
But do you see also the flowers?
You are pained by the testings.
but God sees the sweet flower of faith which is upspringing in your life under those very trials.

You shrink from the suffering.
But God sees the tender compassion for other sufferers which is finding birth in your soul.

Your heart winces under the sore bereavement.
But God sees the deepening and enriching which that sorrow has brought to you.

It isn’t raining afflictions for you.
It is raining tenderness, love, compassion, patience, and a thousand other flowers and fruits of the blessed Spirit, which are bringing into your life such a spiritual enrichment as all the fullness of worldly prosperity and ease was never able to beet in your innermost soul. –J. M. McC.

In everything give thanks . . . Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie

Published in: on June 16, 2014 at 2:01 pm  Leave a Comment  
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Today’s thought – The Creeping Wilderness

june13 0012014 Garden,
grapes, squash, winter squash, melons, corn, okra, cucumber, peppers, tomatoes, from left to right.
the Farmer is helping the cucumbers climb up the field fencing,
making the cukes easier to pick and taking up garden space.

Good Morning

Proverbs 10:17
He is in the way of life that keepeth instruction:
but he that refuseth reproof erreth.

The neglected heart will soon be a heart
overrun with worldly thoughts;
the neglected life will soon become a moral chaos;
the church that is not jealously protected by mighty intercession
and sacrificial labors will before long become the abode
of every evil bird and the hiding place
for unsuspected corruption.
The creeping wilderness will soon take over that church
that trusts in its own strength and forgets to watch and pray.
A. W. Tozer

No company sets a goal to slide into mediocrity. No in-love newlyweds plan to divorce down the road.No fit, muscular athlete figures how to put on a hundred pounds and get totally out of shape in the next few years. No neighborhood holds a meeting to outline steps toward a rundown community. No committed, vibrant Christian dreams of a day when he or she will walk far from God, living a life of joyless compromise.

The common denominator in all the above too-often scenarios is neglect. The wilderness does not swallow up a great city in a day, it creeps closer and closer–through neglect.

Prayer.
God’s Word.
A community of believers.
These are neglected at great risk to your souls!

Watch out for neglect . . . Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie

Published in: on June 13, 2014 at 10:23 am  Comments (2)  
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Today’s thought – Romans 5:8-10

june11 002the Farmer picked raspberries and blackberries Wednesday evening.

Good Morning

I’ve received such encourage from this scripture this week.

Romans 5:8-10

But God shows and clearly proves His [own] love for us
by the fact that while we were still sinners,
Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One) died for us.

Therefore, since we are now justified
(acquitted, made righteous, and brought into right relationship with God)
by Christ’s blood, how much more [certain is it that]
we shall be saved by Him from the indignation and wrath of God.

For if while we were enemies
we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son,
it is much more [certain], now that we are reconciled,
that we shall be saved (daily delivered from sin’s dominion)
through His [resurrection] life.  Amplified Bible

The phrase “daily delivered from sin’s dominion” seemed like it was in bold letters.

With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie

Published in: on June 12, 2014 at 4:26 am  Leave a Comment  
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Today’s thought – O Blest Assurance

june10 004Another cactus blossom

Good Morning

Genesis 50:18-21
And his brethren also went and fell down before his face;
and they said, Behold, we be thy servants.
And Joseph said unto them,
Fear not: for am I in the place of God?
But as for you, ye thought evil against me;
but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass,
as it is this day, to save much people alive.
Now therefore fear ye not:
I will nourish you, and your little ones.
And he comforted them, and spake kindly unto them.

“God meant it unto good”–O blest assurance.
Falling like sunshine all across life’s way.
Touching with Heaven’s gold earth’s darkest storm clouds,
Bringing fresh peace and comfort day by day.

‘Twas not by chance the hands of faithless brethren
Sold Joseph captive to a foreign land;
Nor was it chance which, after years of suffering.
Brought him before the monarch’s throne to stand.

One Eye all seeing saw the need of thousands,
And planned to meet it through that one lone soul;
And through the weary days of prison bondage
Was working towards the great and glorious goal.

As yet the end was hidden from the captive,
The iron entered even to his soul;
His eye could scan the present path of sorrow,
Not yet his gaze might rest upon the whole.

Faith failed not through those long,dark days of waiting,
His trust in God was recompensed at last.
The moment came when God let when God led forth his servant
To succour many, all his sufferings past
.
“It was not you but God, that sent me hither,”
Witnessed triumphant faith in after days;
“God meant it unto good,” no “second causes”
Mingled their discord with his son of praise.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
“God means it unto good” for thee, beloved,
The God of Joseph is the same today
His love permits afflictions strange and bitter,
His hand is guiding through the unknown way.

Thy Lord, who sees the end from the beginning,
Hath purposes for thee of love untold.
Then place thy hand in His and follow fearless,
Till thou the riches of His grace untold.

There, when thou standest in the Home of Glory,
And all life’s path lies open to thy gaze,
Thine eyes shall SEE the hand which now thou trustest,
And magnify His love through endless days.
–Freda Hanbury Allen

 

Trust in the Lord . . .Today
With my prayers, desiring yours,  Leslie

Published in: on June 11, 2014 at 4:42 am  Leave a Comment  
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