In Times Like These

Have we thought of our Father’s talk with Satan about Job?

Job 1:1-12
There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job;
and that man was perfect and upright,
and one that feared God, and eschewed evil.
And there were born unto him seven sons and three daughters.
His substance also was seven thousand sheep,
and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen,
and five hundred she asses, and a very great household;
so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east.
And his sons went and feasted in their houses, every one his day;
and sent and called for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them.
And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about,
that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning,
and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all:
for Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned,
and cursed God in their hearts.
Thus did Job continually.

(more…)

Published in: on March 20, 2020 at 1:44 pm  Comments (1)  
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Sunday Bible Reading – John 14:1, 15-18

 

John 14:1, 15-18

“Do not let your heart be troubled (afraid, cowardly).
Believe [confidently] in God and trust in Him,
[have faith, hold on to it, rely on it, keep going and]
believe also in Me.

“If you [really] love Me, you will keep and obey My commandments.

And I will ask the Father,
and He will give you another Helper
(Comforter, Advocate, Intercessor—Counselor, Strengthener, Standby),
to be with you forever—
the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive
[and take to its heart]
because it does not see Him or know Him,
but you know Him because He (the Holy Spirit)
remains with you continually and will be in you.

“I will not leave you as orphans [comfortless, bereaved, and helpless];
I will come [back] to you.

Precious Promises

Published in: on April 1, 2018 at 4:15 am  Leave a Comment  
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God, That Cannot Lie

Jeremiah 33:25-26
Thus saith the LORD; If my covenant be not with day and night,
and if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth;
Then will I cast away the seed of Jacob, and David my servant . . .

Titus 1:2
In hope of eternal life,
which God, that cannot lie,
promised before the world began;

Planet Convergence March 25, 2012

Mark your calendar now
if you want to see the next celestial convergence
of Venus, Jupiter, and the moon.
On November 18, 2052, you’ll be able to peer
through the evening darkness
as those solar system neighbors “gather”
in a tiny area of the sky.
That remarkable juxtaposition of reflective spheres
last sparkled the night sky on December 1, 2008,
and it will happen again 4 decades from now.

This predictability,
as well as things such as eclipses
and the return of Halley’s Comet (July 28, 2061),
prove the orderliness of the universe.
If no fixed set of laws governed the movement
of everything in the universe,
such predictions could not be made.

Are these set rules more than random standards?
Can we see God’s hand in these celestial certainties?
Look at Jeremiah 33:25-26.
God has in view the covenantal relationship
between Himself and His people,
and He uses a scientific fact in the analogy.
In effect, God says that His fixed universal laws,
“the ordinances of heaven and earth,”
have the same certainty
as His promises to His covenant people.

God’s laws have governed the universe since its creation—
and continue to do so with astounding predictability.
So mark your calendar,
and be amazed by God’s unchanging control.  — Dave Branon”

Wherein God,
willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs
of promise the immutability of his counsel,
confirmed it by an oath:
That by two immutable things,
in which it was impossible for God to lie,
we might have a strong consolation,
who have fled for refuge to lay hold
upon the hope set before us:
Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul,
both sure and stedfast, . . . Hebrews 6:17-19

Published in: on May 10, 2017 at 3:04 am  Leave a Comment  
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Sunday Bible Reading – Psalm 121

Psalm 121
I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills,
from whence cometh my help.
My help cometh from the LORD,
which made heaven and earth.
He will not suffer thy foot to be moved:
he that keepeth thee will not slumber.
Behold, he that keepeth Israel
shall neither slumber nor sleep.
The LORD is thy keeper:
the LORD is thy shade upon thy right hand.
The sun shall not smite thee by day,
nor the moon by night.
The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil:
he shall preserve thy soul.
The LORD shall preserve
thy going out and thy coming in
from this time forth,
and even for evermore.

june-16-008

Remembering God’s Promises at Cozy Acres

We are like to Him with whom there is no past or future,
with whom a day is as a thousand years,
and a thousand years as one day,
when we do our work in the great present,
leaving both past and future to Him
to whom they are ever present,
and fearing nothing,
because He is in our future
as much as He is in our past, as much as,
and far more than we can feel Him to be, in our present.
Partakers thus of the divine nature,
resting in that perfect All-in-all
in whom our nature is eternal too,
we walk without fear,
full of hope
and courage
and strength to do His will,
waiting for the endless good
which He is always giving
as fast as He can get us able to take it in.
G. MACDONALD.

Published in: on January 8, 2017 at 4:29 am  Leave a Comment  
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Today’s thought – This is Mine

Feb 24 catch up 042Ring around the tree with spring flowers.

Good Morning

Joshua 1:3-5
Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses. 4 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. 5 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.

An old colored man,
who had a marvelous experience in grace,
was asked:
“Daniel, why is it that you have so much peace and joy in religion?”
“O Massa!” he replied,
“I just fall flat on the exceeding great and precious promises,
and I have all that is in them.
Glory! Glory!”

He who falls flat on the promises feels
that all the riches embraced in them are his.

—Faith Papers

Walk through the pages of God’s promises . . .Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie

Published in: on February 26, 2015 at 4:55 am  Leave a Comment  
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Today’s thought – God’s Promises

aug 8 003the Farmer planted a whole row of flowers!

Good Morning

Psalm 119:49-50, 89-90 NLT
Remember your promise to me;
it is my only hope.
Your promise revives me;
it comforts me in all my troubles.
Your eternal word, O Lord,
stands firm in heaven.
Your faithfulness extends to every generation,
as enduring as the earth you created.

We may . . . depend upon God’s promises, for . . .
He will be as good as His world.
He is so king that He cannot deceive us,
so true that He cannot break His promise.
~~~Matthew Henry

Psalm 145:13-18NLT
For your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom.
You rule throughout all generations.

The Lord always keeps his promises;
he is gracious in all he does.
The Lord helps the fallen
and lifts those bent beneath their loads.
The eyes of all look to you in hope;
you give them their food as they need it.
When you open your hand,
you satisfy the hunger and thirst of every living thing.
The Lord is righteous in everything he does;
he is filled with kindness.
The Lord is close to all who call on him,
yes, to all who call on him in truth.

Psalm 119:140 NLT
Your promises have been thoroughly tested;
that is why I love them so much.

I can trust God . . . Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie

Published in: on August 9, 2014 at 5:18 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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December 31, Today’s thought – Another Year

june 16 008God has been faithful to His promises this year.

Good Morning

Isaiah 42:5-9

Thus saith God the Lord, he that created the heavens, and stretched them out; he that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it; he that giveth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein: I the Lord have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles; To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house. I am the Lord: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images. Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare: before they spring forth I tell you of them.

Another year has come and gone.
How will this one go down in the books for you?
Did you meet new friends?
Did you start or finish any new projects?
Did you take a class or learn something new?
Did you read any books?
Did you bless those around you?
Your family?
Your neighbors?
Did you serve at your church?
Did you share your faith?
Did you pray more or less?
Did you draw closer to God?

Years come and go.
Are we growing and making a difference
in the time God had given us?
The questions raised above are not intended to elicit guilt,
but they are the kind of questions that help us determine
how much we are making our life count.

Consider writing down a highlight of your year
before you even begin to thinking about goals for the next year.
Do this thoughtfully and prayerfully.
Ask God to convict you in areas that need to change.
Let Him affirm you in areas where He is pleased with your life.
Let this account of your your challenge and encourage you
to live your best life yet in the days ahead.
from A Daybook of Grace

I’m considering . . .Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie

Published in: on December 31, 2013 at 12:16 pm  Leave a Comment  
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August 11, Today’s thought — God’s Promises

How the Farmer saw the sky.

Good Morning

“We never prize the precious words of promise,” said Mr. Spurgeon, “till we are placed in conditions in which their suitability and sweetness are manifested.”

We all of us value those golden worlds
“When thou walkest through fire thou shalt not be burned neither shall the flame kindle upon thee,” (Isaiah 43:2)
but few, if any of us have read them with the delight of the martyr Binney. To him this passage was a mainstay while he was in prison awaiting burning at the stake. His Bible, still preserved in the library of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, has the passage marked with a pen in the margin.
Doubtless if all were known, every promise in the Bible has borne a special message to some one Christian, and so the whole volume might be scored in the margin with mementos of Christian experience, every one appropriate to the very letter.

The promises of God are certain, but they do not all mature in ninety days. A. J. Gordon

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

Published in: on August 11, 2012 at 5:51 am  Leave a Comment  
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This is Believing

What is it thou wouldst have done, that He cannot do if He think it fit?

And if He think it not fit, if thou art one of His children, thou wilt think with Him; thou wilt reverence His wisdom, and rest satisfied with His will.

This is believing indeed; the rolling all our desires and burdens over upon an almighty God; and where this is, it cannot choose but establish the heart in the midst of troubles, and give it a calm within in the midst of the greatest storms.    Robert Leighton

Mark 9:24 And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.

Published in: on January 29, 2010 at 2:09 pm  Leave a Comment  
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