Establish, Strengthen, Settle You

Cozy Acres has California Poppy blooming everywhere.

1 Peter 5:10
But the God of all grace,
who hath called us unto his eternal glory
by Christ Jesus,
after that ye have suffered a while,
make you perfect,
stablish,
strengthen,
settle you.

Notes from Clarke’s Comentary

But the God of all grace –
The Fountain of infinite compassion, mercy, and goodness.
In the name of the God of all grace; the God who is the most merciful and the most compassionate, who is an exuberant Fountain of love and compassion to all his intelligent offspring.

Who hath called us –
By the preaching of the Gospel.

Unto his eternal glory –
To the infinite felicity of the heavenly state.

By Christ Jesus –
Through the merit of his passion and death, by the influence of his Holy Spirit, by the precepts of his Gospel, and by the splendor of his own example.

After that ye have suffered a while –
Having suffered a little time; that is, while ye are enduring these persecutions, God will cause all to work together for your good.

Make you perfect –
He will make you perfect. – Put you in complete joint as the timbers of a building.

Stablish –
Make you firm in every part; adapt you strongly to each other, so that you may be mutual supports, the whole building being one in the Lord.

Strengthen –
Cramp and bind every part, so that there shall be no danger of warping, splitting, or falling.

Settle –
Cause all to rest so evenly and firmly
upon the best and surest foundation,
that ye may grow together to a holy temple in the Lord:
in a word,
that ye may be complete in all the mind that was in Christ;
supported in all your trials and difficulties;
strengthened to resist and overcome all your enemies;
and after all abide, firmly founded, in the truth of grace.

Published in: on April 10, 2017 at 11:54 am  Leave a Comment  
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Sunday Bible Reading

Isaiah 41:8-10

But thou, Israel, art my servant,
Jacob whom I have chosen,
the seed of Abraham my friend.
Thou whom I have taken from the ends of the earth,
and called thee from the chief men thereof,
and said unto thee,
Thou art my servant;
I have chosen thee,
and not cast thee away.
Fear thou not;
for I am with thee:
be not dismayed;
for I am thy God:
I will strengthen thee; yea,
I will help thee; yea,
I will uphold thee
with the right hand of my righteousness.

Published in: on April 9, 2017 at 4:15 am  Leave a Comment  
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The Lesson of ‘Inward Stillness’

Their strength is to sit still.
Isaiah 30:7

In order really to know God,
inward stillness is absolutely necessary.
I remember when I first learned this.
A time of great emergency had risen in my life,
when every part of my being seemed to throb with anxiety,
and when the necessity
for immediate and vigorous action seemed overpowering;
and yet circumstances were such that I could do nothing,
and the person who could, would not stir.

For a little while it seemed as if
I must fly to pieces with the inward turmoil,
when suddenly the still small voice whispered
in the depths of my soul,
“Be still, and know that I am God.”
The word was with power, and I hearkened.
I composed my body to perfect stillness,
and I constrained my troubled spirit into quietness,
and looked up and waited;
and then I did “know” that it was God,
God even in the very emergency
and in my helplessness to meet it;
and I rested in Him.

It was an experience
that I would not have missed for worlds;
and I may add also,
that out of this stillness seemed to arise
a power to deal with the emergency,
that very soon brought it to a successful issue.
I learned then effectually
that my “strength was to sit still.”
–Hannah Whitall Smith

Let be and be still,
and know (recognize and understand) that I am God.
I will be exalted among the nations! I will be exalted in the earth!
Psalm 46:10 AMPC

Published in: on April 8, 2017 at 11:58 am  Leave a Comment  
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‘I Trust in Thee’

Though he slay me, yet will I trust him (Job 13:15).

I will not doubt, though all my ships at sea
Come drifting home with broken masts and sails;
I will believe the Hand which never fails,
From seeming evil worketh good for me.
And though I weep because those sails are tattered,
Still will I cry, while my best hopes lie shattered:
‘I trust in Thee.’

I will not doubt, though all my prayers return
Unanswered from the still, white realm above;
I will believe it is an all-wise love
Which has refused these things for which I yearn;
And though at times I cannot keep from grieving,
Yet the pure ardor of my fixed believing
Undimmed shall burn.

I will not doubt, though sorrows fall like rain,
And troubles swarm like bees about a hive.
I will believe the heights for which I strive
Are only reached by anguish and by pain;
And though I groan and writhe beneath my crosses.
I yet shall see through my severest losses
The greater gain.

I will not doubt. Well anchored is this faith,
Like some staunch ship, my soul braves every gale;
So strong its courage that it will not quail
To breast the mighty unknown sea of death.
Oh, may I cry, though body parts with spirit,
‘I do not doubt,’ so listening worlds may hear it,
With my last breath.

Day by Day, And with each passing moment.
Click for song,

Published in: on April 4, 2017 at 10:13 am  Leave a Comment  
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Speak, LORD; for Thy Servant Heareth

I will hear what God the Lord will speak:
for He will speak peace unto His people.
Psalm 85:8

He speaketh,
but it is with us to hearken or no.
It is much, yea, it is everything,
not to turn away the ear,
to be willing to hearken,
not to drown His voice.
“The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him.”
It is a secret, hushed voice,
a gentle intercourse of heart to heart,
a still, small voice,
whispering to the inner ear.
How should we hear it,
if we fill our ears
and our hearts with the din of this world,
its empty tumult,
its excitement,
its fretting vanities,
or cares,
or passions,
or anxieties,
or show,
or rivalries,
and its whirl of emptinesses?
E. B. PUSEY.

Therefore Eli said unto Samuel,
Go, lie down: and it shall be,
if he call thee,
that thou shalt say,
Speak, LORD; for thy servant heareth.
So Samuel went and lay down in his place.
And the LORD came, and stood,
and called as at other times, Samuel, Samuel.
Then Samuel answered,
Speak; for thy servant heareth.
And the LORD said to Samuel, Behold, . . .
1 Samuel 3:9-11a

Published in: on March 30, 2017 at 4:55 am  Leave a Comment  
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Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep

Don’t you love how cats can look so peaceful as they sleep?

I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep:
for Thou, Lord, only makest me dwell in safety.
Psalm 4:8.

We sleep in peace in the arms of God,
when we yield ourselves up to His providence,
in a delightful consciousness of His tender mercies;
no more restless uncertainties,
no more anxious desires,
no more impatience at the place we are in;
for it is God who has put us there,
and who holds us in His arms.
Can we be unsafe where He has placed us?
FRANÇOIS DE LA MOTHE FÉNELON.

Published in: on March 28, 2017 at 9:55 am  Comments (1)  
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To Give Everything First

And she said, As the LORD thy God liveth,
have not a cake,
but an handful of meal in a barrel,
and a little oil in a cruse:
and, behold, I am gathering two sticks,
I may go in and dress it for me and my son,
that we may eat it, and die.
And Elijah said unto her, Fear not;
go and do as thou hast said:
but make me thereof a little cake first,
and bring it unto me,
and after make for thee and for thy son.
For thus saith the LORD God of Israel,
The barrel of meal shall not waste,
neither shall the cruse of oil fail,
until the day that the LORD sendeth rain upon the earth.
And she went and did according to the saying of Elijah:
and she, and he, and her house, did eat many days.
And the barrel of meal wasted not,
neither did the cruse of oil fail,
according to the word of the LORD,
which he spake by Elijah.
1Kings 17:12-16

 

But what if . . .
what if the widow had not believed the words of the prophet?

What if she had not picked up that curse of oil the next morning
to fix the breakfast cake

What if she had not reached in to the bag

Did she wonder as she picked up the flour scoop
Did her hand tremble?
Did she cry
“LORD! HELP MY UNBELIEF!”

She was just like me
measuring out for days the amount left
in the bag and in the cruse.

Making each cake in the morning and in the evening
just a little smaller
just a little drier
knowing on what day
everything would be gone.

The day came
and as she looked in her little son’s eyes
she said,
Come, let us gather the sticks for today’s breakfast.

As they walk down the same lane
they had walked day after day
they met a man
who asked her to give everything she had to him first.

 

Remembering mine affliction and my misery,
the wormwood and the gall.
My soul hath them still in remembrance,
and is humbled in me.
This I recall to my mind,
therefore have I hope.
It is of the LORD’S mercies that we are not consumed,
because his compassions fail not.
They are new every morning:
great is thy faithfulness.
Lamentations 3:19-23

Linking with:

I’m having Coffee For Your Heart with my friend Holley Gerth

To drink a little more Coffee – click here

Published in: on March 16, 2017 at 11:28 am  Leave a Comment  
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So Run, That Ye May Obtain

Ever Keep Heavaen in View

For we are made partakers of Christ,
if we hold the beginning of our confidence
stedfast unto the end;
Hebrews 3:14

It is the last step that wins;
and there is no place in the pilgrim’s progress
where so many dangers lurk as the region
that lies hard by the portals of the Celestial City.
It was there that Doubting Castle stood.
It was there that the enchanted ground
lured the tired traveler to fatal slumber.
It is when Heaven’s heights are full in view that
hell’s gate is most persistent and full of deadly peril.
“Let us not be weary in well doing,
for in due season we shall reap,
if we faint not.”
“So run, that ye may obtain.”

Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended:
but this one thing I do,
forgetting those things which are behind,
and reaching forth unto those things which are before,
I press toward the mark for the prize
of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 3:13-14

Published in: on March 6, 2017 at 1:00 pm  Leave a Comment  
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Another is Hindered

tree

I love the bare branches of trees.

Let us not therefore judge one another any more:
but judge this rather,
that no man put a stumbling-block,
or an occasion to fall,
in his brother’s way.
Romans 14:13.

A vexation arises,
and our expressions of impatience
hinder others from taking it patiently.
Disappointment,
ailment,
or even weather depresses us;
and our look or tone of depression
hinders others from maintaining
a cheerful and thankful spirit.
We say an unkind thing,
and another is hindered in learning
the holy lesson of charity that thinketh no evil.
We say a provoking thing,
and our sister or brother is hindered
in that day’s effort to be meek.
How sadly, too, we may hinder without word or act!
For wrong feeling is more infectious than wrong doing;
especially the various phases of ill temper,
–gloominess,
touchiness,
discontent,
irritability,
–do we not know how catching these are?
F. R. HAVERGAL.

Them that were entering in,
ye hindered.
Luke 11:52.

Published in: on February 25, 2017 at 4:03 am  Leave a Comment  
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Whatsoever Thy Hand Findeth To Do . . .

wash

My meat is to do the will of Him
that sent me and to finish His work.
John 4:34.

Don’t object that your duties are so insignificant;
they are to be reckoned of infinite significance,
and alone important to you.
Were it but the more perfect regulation of your apartments,
the sorting-away of your clothes and trinkets,
the arranging of your papers, —
“Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, _do it_ with all thy might,”
and all thy worth and constancy.
Much more, if your duties are of evidently higher, wider scope;
if you have brothers, sisters, a father, a mother,
weigh earnestly what claim does lie upon you, on behalf of each,
and consider it as the one thing needful,
to pay _them_ more and more honestly and nobly what you owe.
What matter how miserable one is, if one can do that?
That is the sure and steady disconnection and
extinction of whatsoever miseries one has in this world.
T. CARLYLE.

And whatsoever ye do in word or deed,
do all in the name of the Lord Jesus,
giving thanks to God and the Father by him.
Colossians 3:17

Published in: on February 23, 2017 at 12:02 pm  Leave a Comment  
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Seek the Best

head1

The Stone beside me marked the resting place
of somebody’s BELOVED WIFE
who died in 1805 OF A FEVER.
Beneath her name was a line of script,
almost indistinguishable.
I looked close,
wondering which biblical phrase
her grieving children might have chosen.
But it was not a quotaton;
but a statement:
EVER SHE SOUGHT THE BEST, EVER FOUND IT.

Eight words,
I stood there with my fingers on the cool stone,
feeling the present fade
and the past stir behind the illusion we call time.
A century ago
this woman had been living through a hideous war.
Perhaps it took her husband from her,
perhaps her sons.
When it ended
her country was beaten, broken, improverished.
Yet someone who knew her had written
that she always looked for the best,
and always found it.

There was courage in those words,
and dignity, and purpose.
And a kind of triumph, too,
as if they contained a secret of inestimatable value.
What you look for in life,
they seem to be saying,
you will surely find.
But the direction in which you look is up to you.
Arthur Gordon

But seek ye first the kingdom of God,
and his righteousness;
and all these things shall be added unto you.
Matthew 6:33

Published in: on February 22, 2017 at 4:29 am  Leave a Comment  
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Windows of the Soul

seekth

God stretched out the heavens,
stippling the night with inpressionistic stars.
He set the sun tothe rhythm of the day,
the moon to the rhythm of the month,
the seasons to the rhythm of the year . . .
He formed a likeness of Himself from a lump of clay
and into it breathed life.
He crafted a counterpart to complete the likeness,
joining the two halves and
placing them center stage in His creation
where there was a temption and a fall,
a great loss and a great hiding.
God searched for the hiding couple,
reaching to pick them up,
dust them off,
draw them near . . .

We reach for God in many ways.
Through our sculptures and our scriptures.
Through our pictures and our prayers.
Through our writing and our worship.
And through them He reaches for us . . .

His search begins with something said.
Ours begins with something heard.
His begins with something shown.
Ours, with something seen.
Our search for God and His search for us meet
at windows in our everyday experience.

But we must learn to look
with more than just our eyes
and listen with more than just our ears,
for the sounds are sometimes faint
and the sights sometimes far away.
Ken Gire

Then shall ye call upon me,
and ye shall go and pray unto me,
and I will hearken unto you.
And ye shall seek me, and find me,
when ye shall search for me with all your heart.
And I will be found of you, saith the LORD:
Jeremiah 29:12-14a

Published in: on February 20, 2017 at 11:27 am  Leave a Comment  
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We Have Need of Patience

1

My brethren, count it all joy
when ye fall into divers temptations [or “trials”],
knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.–
James 1:2-3.

We have need of patience
with ourselves and with others;
with those below,
and those above us,
and with our own equals
with those who love us and
those who love us not
for the greatest things
and for the least;
against sudden inroads of trouble,
under our daily burdens;
disappointments as to the weather,
or the breaking of the heart;
in the weariness of the body,
or the wearing of the soul;
in our own failure of duty,
or others’ failure toward us;
every-day wants,
or in the aching of sickness
or the decay of age;
in disappointment,
bereavement,
losses,
injuries,
reproaches;
in heaviness of the heart;
or its sickness amid delayed hopes.
In all these things,
from childhood’s little troubles
to the martyr’s sufferings,
patience is the grace of God,
whereby we endure evil for the love of God.
E. B. Pusey

Published in: on February 19, 2017 at 6:30 pm  Leave a Comment  
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Casting All

feb24-023

Casting all your care upon him;
for he careth for you.
1 Peter 5:7

Casting all your care
Your anxiety,
your distracting care,
on him,
for he careth for you,
for he meddles or concerns himself,
with the things that interest you.
Whatever things concern a follower of God,
whether they be spiritual or temporal,
or whether in themselves great or small,
God concerns himself with them;
affects them affects him;
in all their afflictions he is afflicted.
He who knows that God cares for him,
need have no anxious cares about himself.

Cast thy burden upon the Lord,
and he will sustain thee.
Psalm 55:22

He will bear both thee and thy burden
Clarke’s Commentary

Casting the whole of your care,
all your anxieties,
all your worries,
all your concerns,
once and for all on Him,
for He cares for you affectionately
and cares about you watchfully.
1 Peter 5:7
Amplified Bible

Published in: on February 11, 2017 at 1:21 pm  Leave a Comment  
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As For God

god-is-our-rock

He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.–Psalm 23: 2- 3.

Out of obedience and devotion arises an habitual faith,
which makes Him,
though unseen,
a part of all our life.
He will guide us in a sure path,
though it be a rough one:
though shadows hang upon it,
yet He will be with us.
He will bring us home at last.
Through much trial it may be,
and weariness,
in much fear and fainting of heart,
in much sadness and loneliness,
in griefs that the world never knows,
and under burdens that the nearest never suspect.
Yet He will suffice for all.
By His eye or by His voice He will guide us,
if we be docile and gentle;
by His staff and by His rod,
if we wander or are wilful:
any how,
and by all means,
He will bring us to His rest.
H. E. MANNING.

Psalm 18:30-32
As for God, his way is perfect: the word of the LORD is tried: he is a buckler to all those that trust in him. 31 For who is God save the LORD? or who is a rock save our God? 32 It is God that girdeth me with strength, and maketh my way perfect.

Published in: on February 8, 2017 at 11:49 am  Leave a Comment  
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