Morning Psalm

Good morning! (Or afternoon or evening 😉)

As Ally (the young lady that lives with me) and I were reading through our Psalm this morning the Lord brought YOU (those who come across or intentionally read this blog) to my mind. So, I decided to bring you along for our morning Psalm reading.


This morning Ally and I opened our Bibles to Psalm 4.
We have been reading through a Psalm a day for the last few days.
I began to read the chapter aloud, Ally following along in her own Bible.

1 Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness: thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress; have mercy upon me, and hear my prayer.

² O ye sons of men, how long will ye turn my glory into shame? how long will ye love vanity, and seek after leasing? Selah.

At the Selah (pause) we paused and reflected on what was said before. We were both a little unsure what the word "leasing" in this interpretation meant, so I pulled up my concordance and searched it.
We found that the Greek word interpreted "leasing" means: "falsehood; literally (untruth) or figuratively (idol):- deceitful, false, leasing, + liar, lie, lying."

So "O ye sons of men, how long will you turn my glory into shame? How long will you love vanity, and seek after falsehood?"

We continued on and were greatly encouraged by the next verse:

³ But know that the Lord hath set apart him that is godly for himself: the Lord will hear when I call unto him.

Then:

⁴ Stand in awe, and sin not: commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still. Selah.

⁵ Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, and put your trust in the Lord.

⁶ There be many that say, Who will shew us any good? Lord, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us.

⁷ Thou hast put gladness in my heart, more than in the time that their corn and their wine increased.

We talked about harvests and how exciting it is for the farmers, who have poured all of their time, resources, and strength into their crops, when they receive an increased and bountiful harvest.
What a joy it is to them when they see all of that bountiful crop of corn and the wine flowing forth from the bountiful grape harvest. What great joy fills the farmers heart at such a sight.
Yet, how much more is the joy of those who's heart the LORD has filled with gladness!

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

We read this last verse and talked about the fact that it is GOD alone who makes us safe. It is He who KEEPS us. That we do not have to be anxious or struggle with insomnia, because HE is the One Who makes us to live in safety.
It is not locked doors that keep us safe, but God alone.

We decided that it would be a good idea to add this verse to our memory bank of verses that are hidden in our hearts.

God is good to give us His Word to study, find encouragement and strength in and to get to know Him more through.

I hope that this has encouraged and lifted your hearts today.
Blessings on you as you walk in His ways!


-Kourtney

By Faith...

By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter;

Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season;

Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward.

By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible. Hebrews 11:24-27

Living Truth

Not just to be saviors, but servants we're called
Not just to write sermons, but abide in Gods Word
Not just to speak Truth, but to walk it out bold
Not just to listen, but to do what we're told

Not just in the moment, a flash of emotion
Not just for kiks, or to put on a show
Not just so others can see our good deeds
Not just for self, but so others might know. 

Why are we doing what we are doing? 

www.ellerslie.com/bravehearted-thots/asking-the-tough-questions 

"But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves." James 1:22

The Unrepealed Commission

Speaking of Amy Carmichael's work in Japan:

"As in Belfast and Manchester, Amy sought out the factory girls...
Her great longing was to have a "single eye" for the glory of God . Whatever might blur the vision God had given her of His work, whatever could distract or deceive or tempt others to seek anything but The Lord Jesus Himself she tried to eliminate. Why waste precious time, painful effort, on lesser things? Someone suggested that more girls would be drawn to the meetings if she offered lessons in sewing or embroidery and administered only a mild dose of the Gospel. But these girls worked from five in the morning till half past six in the evening. They had one day off in ten. They hadn't time for foolishness. Furthermore, so far as Amy could see, there was no scriptural warrant for "consecrated fancywork and chatter," for "fleshly things rather than spiritual." "I would rather have two who came in earnest than a hundred who came to play," she said. "We have no time to toy with souls like this. It is not by ceremonial tea making and flower arranging, not by wool chrysanthemum-making and foreign sewing-learning, but 'by My Spirit, saith The Lord.' "

-"A Chance to Die, the Life and Legacy of Amy Carmichael" by Elisabeth Elliot

All I Have Is Christ

lyrics

Verse 1
I once was lost in darkest night
Yet thought I knew the way
The sin that promised joy and life
Had led me to the grave
I had no hope that You would own
A rebel to Your will
And if You had not loved me first
I would refuse You still

Verse 2
But as I ran my hell-bound race
Indifferent to the cost
You looked upon my helpless state
And led me to the cross
And I beheld God’s love displayed
You suffered in my place
You bore the wrath reserved for me
Now all I know is grace

Chorus
Hallelujah! All I have is Christ
Hallelujah! Jesus is my life

Verse 3
Now, Lord, I would be Yours alone
And live so all might see
The strength to follow Your commands
Could never come from me
O Father, use my ransomed life
In any way You choose
And let my song forever be
My only boast is You


Credits:
Music and words by Jordan Kauflin
© 2008 Sovereign Grace Praise (BMI)  see less

Chapter VI - Missed Ends

The tom-toms thumped straight on all night, and the darkness shuddered round me like a living, feeling thing. I could not sleep, so I lay awake and looked; and I saw, as it seemed, this:
That I stood on a grassy sward, and at my feet a precipice broke sheer down into infinite space. I looked, but saw no bottom; only cloud shapes, black and furiously coiled, and great shadow-shrouded hollows, and unfathomable depths. Back I drew, dizzy at the depth.
Then I saw forms of people moving single file along the grass. They were making for the edge. There was a woman with a baby in her arms and another little child holding on to her dress. She was on the very verge. Then I saw that she was blind. She lifted her foot for the next step...it trod air. She was over, and the children over with her.
Oh, the cry as they went over!
Then I saw more streams of people flowing from all quarters. All were blind, stone blind; all made straight for  the precipice edge. There were shrieks as they suddenly knew themselves falling, and a tossing up of helpless arms, catching, clutching at empty air. But some went over quietly, and fell without a sound.
Then I wondered, with a wonder that was simply agony, why no one stopped them at was the edge. I could not. I was glued to the ground, and I could not call; though I strained and tried, only a whisper would come.
Then I saw that along the edge there were sentries set at intervals. But the intervals were far too great; there were wide, unguarded gaps between. And over these gaps the people fell in their blindness, quite unwarned; and the green grass seemed blood-red to me, and the gulf yawned like the mouth of hell.
Then I saw, like a little picture of peace, a group of people under some trees, with their backs turned towards the gulf. They were making daisy chains.
Sometimes when a piercing shriek cut the quiet air and reached them it disturbed them, and they thought it a rather vulgar noise. And if one of their number started up and wanted to go and do something to help, then all the others would pull that one down. "Why should you get excited about it? You must wait for a definite call to go! You haven't finished your daisy chain yet. It would be really selfish," they said "to leave us to finish the work alone."
There was another group. It was made up of people whose great desire was to get more sentries out; but they found very few wanted to go, and sometimes there were no sentries set for miles and miles of edge.
Once a girl stood alone in her place, waving the people back; but her mother and other relations called, and reminded her that her furlough was due; she must not break the rules. And being tired and needing a change, she had to go and rest for awhile; but no one was sent to guard her gap, and over and over people fell, like a waterfall of souls.
Once a child caught at a tuft of grass that grew at the very brink of the gulf; it clung convulsively, and it called- but nobody seemed to hear. Then the roots of the grass gave way, and with a cry the child went over, its two little hands still holding tight to the torn-off bunch of grass. And the girl longed to be back in her gap thought she heard the little one cry, and she sprang up and wanted to go; at which they reproved her, reminding her that no one is necessary anywhere; the gap would be well taken care of, they knew. And then they sang a hymn.
Then through the hymn came another sound like the pain of a million broken hearts wrung out in one full drop, one sob. And horror of great darkness was upon me, for I know that it was- the Cry of the Blood.
Then thundered a Voice, the Voice of the Lord: "And He said, What hast thou done? The voice of thy brothers' blood crieth unto Me from the ground."
---------
The tom-toms still beat heavily, the darkness still shuddered and shivered about me; I heard the yells of the devil-dancers and the weird wild shrieks of the devil-possessed just outside the gate.
What does it matter, after all?
It has gone on for years; it will go on for years. Why make such a fuss about it?
God forgive us! God arouse us!
Shame us our of our callousness! Shame us out of our sin!

~Amy Carmicheal,  Things As They Are Mission Work in Southern India

It has to be Settled

T. Austin Sparks

It has to be Settled

The whole history of the Church is one long story of this tendency to settle down on this earth and to become conformed to this world, to find acceptance and popularity here and to eliminate the element of conflict and of pilgrimage. That is the trend and the tendency of everything. Therefore outwardly, as well as inwardly, pioneering is a costly thing.

It is a costly and a suffering thing to come up against the religious system that has ' settled down ' here. It is far more costly than coming up against the naked world itself. The religious system can be more ruthless and cruel and bitter; it can be actuated by all those mean things, contemptible things, prejudices and suspicions things that you will not even find in decent people in the world. It is costly to go on to the heavenlies, it is painful; but it is the way of the pioneer, and it has to be settled that that is how it is.

The Christian life is not by effort, and not by struggle; not merely by trying to put into practice certain maxims, or by trying to attain to a certain measure; but from beginning to end, and all together, it is a matter of knowing the Lord Jesus within.

Here I Am...Send ME!

Christianity...

...is not simply the world seeing good in the people of God,
but rather the world seeing the good of the God of the people!

Hidden Treasures

Why are things that are so precious
hid in things of little worth?
Perhaps to show the life which Christ
would live here on the earth

Why is a diamond hid in a stone,
that is known as rough?
Wouldn't clay be far more soft
and not near so tough?

Christ ways are not our ways,
we choose the easy way out,
But He knows what He's after
and His treasures are far more stout

Than anything I've seen
formed in mud or pliable clay
Perhaps that's why He makes them thus
and hides them safely away

He forms these precious things in secret
Not on display like we
He even now is forming
a precious gem in me

He works in quiet places
Unseen by most every eye
Only those who truly seek
Will find where His treasures lie

So seek His treasures in hidden places
Though rough the digging may be
Look to Him and find true beauty
Where you didn't expect it to be!

The Terror of Love

Can love be terrible, my Lord?
Can gentleness be stern?
Ah yes!-intense is Love's desire
To purify His loved-'tis fire,
A holy fire to burn.
For He must fully perfect thee
Till in they likeness all may see
The beauty of thy Lord.

Can holy love be jealous, Lord?
Yes, jealous as the grave;
Till every hurtful idol be
Uptorn and wrested out of thee
Love will be stern to save;
Will spare thee not a single pain
Till thou be freed and pure again
And perfect as thy Lord.

Can love seem cruel, O my Lord?
Yes, like a sword the cure;
He will not spare thee, sin-sick soul,
Till He hath made thy sickness whole,
Until thine heart is pure.
For oh! He loves thee far too well
To leave thee in thy self-made hell,
A Savior is thy Lord!

From Mountains of Spices (chapter 10) by Hannah Hurnard

Carrying God's Burdens

I looked out of the window this morning and saw the sun streaming through the fluffy gray/white clouds which had been tented yellows and golds and pinks by said sun rays. As I was gazing upon this beauty a thought entered my mind, “you look out on a free land”.
How many thousands, even millions are there who don't have the freedom we have? How many countless myriads of Christians die for their faith, for simply loving Jesus, because Christianity is forbidden in their country?
How many people have lost their lives because they prayed to the One True God?
People of God what are we doing?!
We have freedom. We have comfort. We have plenty!
Are we just going to enjoy that freedom while our fellow brothers and sisters suffer? While there are still countless numbers who don't know Christ? While the Satan is still being glorified?

O God! Forgive us for our laxness! Forgive us for our selfish, self-centered, self-seeking...well I can't even really call that Christianity for “Christianity” is “like Christ” and I can say for myself that I have not been exemplifying Him in this way!
Oh God would You break our hearts for what breaks Yours and fill us with the hope that fills You!
I don't even know why God would want to give us His heart seeing how we have neglected and even trampled it in the past.
Lord, teach us to rightly handle Your heart. To carry Your burdens without dropping them when they get tedious of cumbersome.
Lord, please teach us perseverance and fill us with Your Spirit that we might be all that You would have us to be.
We MUST have YOU Jesus!
"The secret to imitation is impartation." ~Eric Ludy
We must have Jesus! We have NOTHING of worth without Him. All our righteousness is as filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6).
Lord Jesus, we need You! I need You!
Fill us with Yourself today. Lord, may each one who reads this find more of You today.
Thank You Jesus that You are faithful even when we are not! (Rev 19:11)


Please take a few minutes and scroll down to the bottom of this page and watch the short film "Depraved Indifference"

Faith

A dear friend of mine wrote this post on her blog and it blessed me so I thought I'd share. Click the link to read it- www.melodiousecho.blogspot.com/2011/07/just-imagine-if-we-had-faith-as-grain.html

Run With Endurance

More weight?
I asked for more strength and I got more weight?

Isn't it funny how when we want to build muscle we except the weight, but when it comes to spiritual fitness we often question it?
Why do we grit our teeth and lift one more time, take one more step, or pull one last rep in order to be physically fit, but when it comes to spiritual fitness we often don't exert ourselves?

Lord Jesus,
You have given us the grace to overcome, help us to decrease that You might increase. Consume us with You, the Faithful One!

Words of Wisdom

"We must not chart our course by the footprints of the many, but rather by the words of this book" (the Bible)
~ From Pilgrims Progress, Christiana, "Greathart" speaking

“It's so easy to know what to do,

but doing it, that's the challenge.”

Thank goodness we have the grace of Jesus!

Jesus, The Light!

Oh that I could be a light ablaze and shining bright in the darkness of this world. That I could be the one to show the way to the lost and ding souls. But I cannot. No. Not in and of myself. I have nothing to offer, and yet...I have EVERYTHING to offer! I am no longer just a dying soul wandering around in a dark and weary land. I am no longer stumbling around in the darkness trying to find my way. I am no longer alone, lonely, forsaken, destitute, starving, poor, naked, dying. No. I have found LIFE! Or rather, I was awakened to Life, Who dwells all around me. As I turned to Him He took me in. He showed me-and is showing me still- that I cannot save people. I cannot be the Light. I cannot be life to the dying souls. As I have yielded to Him, Jesus has taken over this being. He has shown me that no matter how well I treat people or make them feel in this life, if they don't have Him as their Savior what does that matter? What does it matter if someone is healthy, comfortable and well cared for for a lifetime here on earth and then they spend eternity in hell? I cannot save their souls, but He can. I cannot give them life, but I can point them to Life. I cannot be all they need, but I can point them to the All-in-all, Might, All-powerful, God of the universe. I cannot be their light, but as I die to self and yield this body fully to Christ Jesus and allow the Holy God of all to take over this being until it is "no longer I who live, but Christ liveth in me", as I decrees that He might increase and allow Him to poke holes in my selfish, self-seeking, self-centred, SELF, He begins to shine through. The only way that I can be a light to this world is by not being "I" at all, but by allowing the Light to shine through the emptied out shell of what used to be "me".

As I was writing this I got the mental picture of a car with an old broken down motor. It wasn't any good and in fact would most likely be quite an annoyance. But then that motor was removed and a bigger, better, shinier motor put in it's place. It was only after the first motor was removed and the new motor put in that the care was of any use. No longer is the car an inconvenience or annoyance. Now it is useful and enjoyable.
This is like us. We are like this car. It is not because of how good we are that we are used. It is because of how good the motor is that is propelling us forward.
Now the enemy will try to come in and say that we're not really anything special (and he's right, in and of ourselves we're not, but it is Christ in us that is WAY more than just special!). He says that we should just go back to our old spot on the lawn and stay there, quite being so prideful and showing off how we can get around. RUBBISH! Getting around is not showing off or being prideful, it's allowing God to showcase Himself in and through these bodies. We are no longer to be sitting around doing nothing! We are to be out there "getting around" to all the other cars parked on the side lawn with broken down motors and telling them that there is hope! All they have to do is repent, believe, yield, and receive.
Now to compare Jesus to a car motor is SUCH a degradation, but we in our human sized brains cannot fathom the vastness of Who He is.

So anyway this was not only for your benefits but I think I was also preaching to myself :D I don't know about you but I am encouraged by all that Christ has done and is doing in and through me. All glory to Jesus!

For the JOY Set Before Him

"Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God." Heb 12:1-2

Here is a smile, a hug, and a prayer from your sister in Christ who is running the race with you. Let us find our strength, hope and joy in Him Who is seated at the right hand of the Father and in Whom we abide!

"Follow Me"

This is a phrase used eighteen times in the New Testiment. Seventeen of these times it was used by Jesus, and the last is found in Acts 12:8 when the angel is leading Peter from the prison and he tells him to "follow me".

Something I found interesting as I was reading through the times this phrase was used is that each time Jesus used it (and allot of them were just repeets from the diffrent tellings of the Gospel) it had to do with denying self.
We cannot serve self and Jesus.

The first time this is used in the NT is in Matthew 4:19

"And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers. And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. And they straightway left their nets, and followed him." Mat 4:18-20

They straightway left their nets.
These were fishermen. Their nets were a majore part of their life. It was through these nets that they were enabled to supply themselves with fish, their sorce of income, their livelihood. Yet when Jesus walked by and said "follow Me" they straightway left their nets are followed.
Are we-am I- willing to leave the things that we depend on for our livelyhood (Peter andAndrew probably worked hard to get those nets) and the things that are our asurence of a desent life here on earth? Are we willing to cast it all aside and straightway follow Him?

Grit Your Teeth

NO! I will not go back to sleep! I will pray, I'm not
listening to what you have to say flesh.
I keep shuffling around the
room.
Hm...if I just sit down on this couch then I could...NO! Don't
fall for it! Keep going! If I sit down I won't be able to pray better because
I'll be asleep.

Sometimes getting up before or shortly after sunrise is tough. But in order to have a good amount of time with Jesus before the kiddos wake up it is necessary.
Though- as I was telling a friend recently- it sometimes feels like I just spend most of the time fighting to stay awake.
In spite of this I have found that this morning time is a vital part of my day.
Without it I may not necessarily have a bad attitude, but I just feel like I'm lacking something. That substance that props up my day.
Jesus is the Bread of Life, if I don't come to Him first thing I find myself getting hungry (John 6:35).

So my encouragement to all who read this is: spend time with Jesus. Even if you have to get up at an "insane hour" of the morning, spend time with Jesus. You'll be so glad you did. Even if you don't notice a difference right away keep pressing in, soon you will notice the difference. You will began to have more joy in your heart, more patience in those trying times and you will notice more of Jesus sweet presence within you throughout the day, at least this is how it is for me. So grit your teeth, tell the flesh to be quite and keep pressing into Jesus!

Thank You Jesus for making Yourself available to Your people at all times! I Love You!