Thoughts of Grace

Winter garden beginnings

Good Morning

They continue saying things that mean nothing , thinking God will hear them because of their many words, Matthew 6:7

But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.
Matthew 6:7 KJV

I love the short sentence. . .
What follows are cuts from some of my books and a couple of others.
Keep the ones you like.
Forgive the ones you don’t.
Share them when you can.

Pray all the time. If necessary, use words.
God forgets the past. Imitate him.
Greed I’ve often regretted Generosity — never.
Don’t ask god to do what you want. Ask God to do what is right.
No one is useless to God. No one.
Nails didn’t hold God to a cross. Love did.
You will never forgive anyone more than God has already forgiven you.

Max Lucado, When God Whispers Your Name

And when you pray, do not heap up phrases (multiply words, repeating the same ones over and over) as the Gentiles do, for they think they will be heard for their much speaking Matthew 6:7 Amplified Bible

Trust God for your day. . . Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie

Beautiful tile work seen in Carmel

Good Morning

Tested By the Word of the Lord

“He sent a man before them — Joseph— who was sold as a slave. They hurt his feet with fetters; he was laid in irons. Until the time that his word came to pass, the word of the LORD tested him.” (Psalm 105:17-19)

Joseph waited years before his dreams came true. The waiting was not in vain. God used the time to refine Joseph as gold in a furnace. Joseph’s dreams were from God, but his childish pride was not. The harsh years were not for the sake of proving the dreams true, but for proving Joseph to be true.

The Lord’s refining process does the same in our lives today. Many receive dreams and visions from God, but conduct themselves with immaturity. Like Joseph, they must go through seasons of refinement.
Joseph held to the vision God gave him for his life. It kept him through everything he experienced. He was restrained from sin, redeemed from sorrow and restored to honor by holding on to the dreams from God.

It may be, my fellow traveler, that you are undergoing a test from the Lord, which is applied in love to insure that when your dream comes true — you will be true as well. Rylie

He sent a man before them,
even Joseph, who was sold for a servant:
Whose feet they hurt with fetters:
he was laid in iron:
Until the time that his word came:
the word of the LORD tried him. Psalm 105:17-19 KJV

Trust God for your day . . .Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie

Just a random picture of the deck…

Good Morning

For unto us a child is born,
unto us a son is given:
and the government shall be upon his shoulder:
and his name shall be called
Wonderful,
Counsellor,
The mighty God,
The everlasting Father,
The Prince of Peace.
Isaiah 9:6

”He was poor, that he might make us rich.
He was born of a virgin that we might be born of God.
He took our flesh, that he might give us His Spirit.
He lay in the manger, that we may lie in paradise.
He came down from heaven, that he might bring us to heaven….
That the ancient of Days should be born.
that he who thunders in the heavens should cry in the cradle….
that he who rules the stars should suck the breast;
that a virgin should conceive;
that Christ should be made of a woman, and of that woman which himself made,
that the branch should bear the vine,
that the mother should be younger than the child she bare,
and the child in the womb bigger than the mother;
that the human nature should not be God, yet one with God
Christ taking flesh is a mystery we shall never fully understand till we come to heaven
If our hearts be not rocks, this love of Christ should affect us .
Behold love that passeth knowledge!”
~Thomas Watson

Trust God for your day . . . Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie

I found this tiny sprig of lilac.
It smelled so sweet, reminding me of spring.
The bush was covered with buds, looks good for next year.

Good Morning

Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving,
and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms. Psalm 95:2

When I express my gratitude
to God, I find my attitude
transforms from gloomy doom
to sunny smiles.

In giving thanks, my focus changes
as gratitude . . . it rearranges
the way I think and feel and speak
and live my life.

Counting all the ways He blesses
deepens joy, and my heart presses
in to know Him and enjoy Him
as He is.

“All is grace”, the writer pens
Each day, each hour, each breath He sends
His gifts of grace and bids me
open more to Him.

The Ancient Words declare the way
into His presence everyday
is opened up by giving thanks
and so I say . . .

For sun and moon and stars that twinkle
eyes that see and lines that wrinkle
aging faces, waterfalls and baby’s breath,
I thank You, Lord.

For bone on bone in knee unbending
ears to hear the never-ending
speech, heaven’s telling of Your glory,
Father, thank You.

For hope that flutters in my chest
and tiny eggs in robin’s nest
just waiting to burst forth
and sing your praises.

For full salvation, “it is finished”
healing virtue, undiminished
by years long past and
morning mercies, ever new.

For children home, and far away,
I give you thanks, my God, today
my heart is full and overflows
with gratitude.

Thank You, thank You, Holy Father
Holy Spirit, Jesus, Author
of salvation and the Finisher
of my faith.

Amen.

©Andrea D. Olsen – 9 July 2011

And when ye will offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving unto the LORD,
offer it at your own will. Leviticus_22:29

Trust God for your day. . .Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie

Now you see them…………………Now you don’t!

Good Morning

Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down,
and the feeble knees;
And make straight paths for your feet,
lest that which is lame be turned out of the way;
but let it rather be healed. Hebrews 12:12-13

This is God’s word of encouragement to us to lift up the hands of faith,
and confirm the knees of prayer.
Often our faith grows tired, languid,
and relaxed,
and our prayers lose their force and effectiveness.
The figure used here is a very striking one.
The idea seems to be that we become discouraged
and so timid that a little obstacle depresses and frightens us,
and we are tempted to walk around it,
and not face it: to take the easier way.
Perhaps it is some physical trouble that God is ready to heal,
but the exertion is hard,
or it is easier to secure some human help,
or walk around in some other way.
There are many ways of walking around emergencies
instead of going straight through them.
How often we come up against something that appalls us,
and we want to evade the issue with the excuse:
“I am not quite ready for that now.”
Some sacrifice is to be made,
some obedience demanded,
some Jericho to be taken,
some soul that we have not the courage to claim and carry through,
some prayer that is hanging fire,
or perhaps some physical trouble that is half healed
and we are walking around it.
God says, “Lift up the hands that hang down.”
March straight through the flood, and lo,
the waters will divide,
the Red Sea will open,
the Jordan will part,
and the Lord will lead you through to victory.
Don’t let your feet “be turned out of the way,”
but let your body “be healed,”
your faith strengthened.
Go right ahead and leave no Jericho behind you unconquered
and no place where Satan can say that he was too much for you.
This is a profitable lesson
and an intensely practical one.
How often have we been in that place.
Perhaps you are there today.
~A. B. Simpson.

Trust God for your day. . . Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie

Rosemary behind the grass along the sidewalk at the library

Joshua 1:1-9

Now after the death of Moses the servant of the LORD it came to pass,
that the LORD spake unto Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ minister,
saying,

Moses my servant is dead;
now therefore arise, go over this Jordan,
thou, and all this people,
unto the land which I do give to them,
even to the children of Israel.
Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon,
that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses.
From the wilderness and this Lebanon even unto the great river,
the river Euphrates,
all the land of the Hittites,
and unto the great sea toward the going down of the sun,
shall be your coast.
There shall not any man be able to stand before thee
all the days of thy life:
as I was with Moses,
so I will be with thee:
I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.
Be strong and of a good courage:
for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance
the land, which I sware unto their fathers to give them.
Only be thou strong and very courageous,
that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law,
which Moses my servant commanded thee:
turn not from it to the right hand or to the left,
that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest.
This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth;
but thou shalt meditate therein day and night,
that thou mayest observe to do according to all
that is written therein:
for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous,
and then thou shalt have good success.
Have not I commanded thee?
Be strong and of a good courage;
be not afraid,
neither be thou dismayed:
for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.

Trust God for your day. . .Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie

See what you get when you don’t go to the post office but once a week.

Good Morning

Thou hast enlarged my steps under me,
that my feet did not slip.    Psalm 18:36
The law of his God is in his heart;
none of his steps shall slide.    Psalms 37:31
Our heart is not turned back,
neither have our steps declined from thy way;    Psalm 44:18
Righteousness shall go before him;
and shall set us in the way of his steps.    Psalm 85:13

We sit and weep in vain.
The voice of the Almighty said,
“Up and onward forevermore.”
Let us move on and step out boldly,
though it be into the night,
and we can scarcely see the way.
The path will open, as we progress,
like the trial through the forest or the Alpine pass,
which discloses but a few rods of its length
from any single point of view.
Press on!
If necessary, we will find even the pillar of cloud and fire
to make our journey through the wilderness.
There are guides and wayside inns along the road.
We will find food, clothes and friends
at every stage of the journey,
and as Rutherford so quaintly says:
“However matters go,
the worst will be a tired traveler
and a joyful and sweet welcome home.”
~Cowman, Streams in the Desert

Trust God for day and way. . .Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie

Good Morning

My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus’ name.
Refrain:
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand,
All other ground is sinking sand.
When darkness veils His lovely face,
I rest on His unchanging grace;
In every high and stormy gale,
My anchor holds within the veil.
His oath, His covenant, His blood
Support me in the whelming flood;
When all around my soul gives way,
He then is all my hope and stay.
When He shall come with trumpet sound,
Oh, may I then in Him be found;
Dressed in His righteousness alone,
Faultless to stand before the throne.  Edward Mote

Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul,
both sure and stedfast,
and which entereth into that within the veil; Hebrews 6:19 KJV

[Now] we have this [hope] as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul
[it cannot slip
and it cannot break down under whoever steps out upon it–a hope]
that reaches farther
and enters into [the very certainty of the Presence] within the veil,
Hebrews 6:19 Amplified Bible

Trust God for your day . . . Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie

I see beauty in dying sunflower stalks and corn fields that have given their all.

Create in me a clean heart, O God;
and renew a right spirit within me.
Psalm 51:10

Create in me a clean heart – Mending will not avail; my heart is altogether corrupted; it must be new made, made as it was in the beginning. This is exactly the sentiment of St. Paul: Neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation; and the salvation given under the Gospel dispensation is called a being created anew in Christ Jesus.

We are thirsty.
Not thirsty for fame, possessions, passion, or romance.
We’ve drunk from those pools.
They are salt water in the desert.
They don’t quench — they kill.
“Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: . . .”
Matthew 5:6

Righteousness.

That’s it.
That’s what we are thirsty for.
We’re thirsty for a clean conscience.
We crave a clean slate.
We yearn for a fresh start.
We pray for a hand that will enter the dark cavern of our world
and do for us the one thing we can’t do for ourselves–
make us right again.
Max Lucado, The Applause of Heaven

Trust God for your day, Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie

And many nations shall come, and say,
Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD,
and to the house of the God of Jacob;
and he will teach us of his ways,
and we will walk in his paths:
for the law shall go forth of Zion,
and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
Micah_4:2

Let us resolve to be more holy and more bright.
Let us bury our idols.
Let us put away all strange gods.
Let us cast out the old leaven.
Let us lay aside every weight and besetting sin.
Let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit,and perfect holiness in the fear of God.
Let us renew our covenant with our beloved Lord.
Let us aim at the highest and best things.
Let us resolve by God’s blessing to be more holy, and then I know and am persuaded we shall be more useful and more happy.~J.C. Ryle

Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace,
and things wherewith one may edify another. Romans 14:19

Tiger Lilies

“Serve the Lord with gladness:
Come before His presence with singing.”
Psalm 100:2.

THE HUNDREDTH Psalm is rightly entitled “A Psalm of Thanksgiving” (R.V.).
The Psalmist calls for a “joyful noise,”
i.e. an audible expression of worship.
Do not be content with a thankful heart, but express it!
It is good to let God have “the fruit of our lips.”
As a bird will awaken the whole choir of a woodland glade, so the soul really aglow with loving adoration will spread its own contagion of song.
How often Christian people hinder the progress of Christianity by their dullness, gloominess, and depression. His service is perfect freedom, and if we delight ourselves in the Lord, we should serve Him with gladness!
It is very important to maintain the habit of regular church-going because of its opportunity for worship.
Let us “enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise!”
By meditation and prayer let us ask that we may be accounted worthy to stand in His Presence, and offer praise and adoration to the Most High God, mingled with the fragrance of our Saviour’s Name (Revelation 8:3-4).
“‘The Lord is good!”
There are many mysteries, and much pain and sorrow in the world. We must dare to believe and affirm the goodness of God beneath all the distressing elements of modem life. With His goodness are combined His mercy and His truth. Let men do their worst, “His truth endureth to all generations.” It is an impregnable Rock, on which the waves of sin can make no sensible impression. What comfort there is in knowing that equally His mercy is everlasting. We need so much patience, forbearance, and longsuffering, that if God’s mercy were anything less we should despair, but it is extended to every generation till Time shall be no more! Meyer

Bless the LORD, O my soul:
and all that is within me,
bless his holy name.
Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits:
Who forgiveth all thine iniquities;
who healeth all thy diseases;
Who redeemeth thy life from destruction;
who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies;
Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things;
so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
Psalm 103:1-5

Trust God for your day. . .Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie

The Farmer taking the veggies get to the veggie stand.

Shew me thy ways, O LORD; teach me thy paths.
Psalm 25:4

Show me thy ways –
The psalmist wishes to know God’s way,
to be taught his path,
and to be led into his truth.
He cannot discern this way unless God show it;
he cannot learn the path unless God teach it;
and he cannot walk in God’s truth unless God lead him:
and even then, unless God continue to teach,
he shall never fully learn the lessons of his salvation;
therefore he adds, “Lead me in thy truth, and teach me;” Psalm 25:5.

That he may get this showing, teaching, and leading,
he comes to God, as the “God of his salvation;”
and that he may not lose his labor,
he “waits on him all the day.”
Many lose the benefit of their earnest prayers,
because they do not persevere in them.
They pray for a time;
get remiss or discouraged;
restrain prayer;
and thus lose all that was already wrought for and in them.
Clarke’s Commentary

Lead me in thy truth, and teach me:
for thou art the God of my salvation;
on thee do I wait all the day.
Psalm 25:5

Trust God for your day. . .Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie

Hollyhocks

THE RACE (a poem by D.H. Groberg)

“Even if godly people fall down seven times,
they always get back up”
Proverbs 24:16.

“Quit! Give up! You’re beaten!” They shout at me and plead,
“There’s just too much against you now. This time you can’t succeed!”
And as I start to hang my head in front of failure’s face,
my downward fall is broken by the memory of a race.
And hope refills my weakened will as I recall that scene.
For just the thought of that short race rejuvenates my being.

A children’s race – young boys, young men – how I remember well.
Excitement, sure! But also fear; it wasn’t hard to tell.
They all lined up so full of hope; each thought to win the race.
Or tie for first, or if not that, at least take second place.
And fathers watched from off the side, each cheering for his son.
And each boy hoped to show his dad that he would be the one.

The whistle blew and off they went! Young hearts and hope afire.
To win and be the hero there was each young boy’s desire.
And one boy in particular whose dad was in the crowd,
was running near the lead and thought, “My dad will be so proud!”

But as they speeded down the field across a shallow dip,
the little boy who thought to win lost his step and slipped.
Trying hard to catch himself his hands flew out to brace,
and mid the laughter of the crowd he fell flat on his face.

So down he fell, and within him hope; he couldn’t win it now.
Embarrassed, sad, he only wished to disappear somehow.
But as he fell his dad stood up and showed his anxious face.
Which to the boy so clearly said: “Get up and win the race!”

He quickly rose, no damage done; behind a bit, that’s all
and ran with all his mind and might to make up for his fall.
So anxious to restore himself, to catch up and to win,
his mind went faster than his legs; he slipped and fell again!

He wished then he had quit before with only one disgrace.
“I’m hopeless as a runner now; I shouldn’t try to race.”
But in the laughing crowd he searched and found his father’s face.
That steady look which said again: “Get up and win the race!”

So up he jumped to try again, ten yards behind the last.
“If I’m to gain those yards,” he thought, “I’ve got to move real fast!”
Exerting everything he had he gained eight or ten,
but trying so hard to catch the lead he slipped and fell again!

Defeat! He lay there silently, a tear dropped from his eye.
“There’s no sense running anymore; three strikes: I’m out! Why try?”
The will to rise had disappeared, all hope had fled away;
so far behind, so error prone; a loser all the way.
“I’ve lost, so what’s the use,” he thought. “I’ll live with my disgrace.”
But then he thought about his dad who soon he’d have to face.

“Get up,” an echo sounded low, “Get up and take your place.
You were not meant for failure here. Get up and win the race.
With borrowed will, get up,” it said, “you haven’t lost at all.
For winning is no more than this: To rise each time you fall.”

So up he rose to run once more, and with a new commit
he resolved that win or lose, at least he wouldn’t quit.
So far behind the others now, the most he’d ever been,
still he gave it all he had and ran so as to win.
Three times he’d fallen, stumbling; three times he rose again;
to far behind to hope to win, he still ran to the end.

They cheered the winning runner as he crossed the line first place.
Head high, and proud and happy; no falling, no disgrace.
But when the fallen youngster crossed the line in last place,
the crowd gave him the greater cheer for finishing the race.
And even though he came in last with head bowed low, unproud.
You would have thought he’d won the race to listen to that crowd.
And to his dad he sadly said, “I didn’t do so well.”
“To me, you won,” his father said. “You rose each time you fell.”

And now when things seem dark and hard and difficult to face,
the memory of that little boy helps me in my own race.
For all of life is like that race, with ups and downs and all.
And all you have to do to win is rise each time you fall.
“Quit! Give up! You’re beaten!” They still shout in my face.

But another voice within me says: “GET UP AND WIN THE RACE!”

But he that shall endure unto the end,
the same shall be saved.
Matthew 24:13

Trust God for your day. . .Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie