Saturday's Snippet

2 Corinthians 10:4

(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)

Good morning, friends! 

I hope you're all feeling strong on this Saturday, because we are in a battle. A battle against evil. Every day, we are oppressed by the wickedness that seems to prevail in our world. It is time for us to realize that, while the battle is fierce, WE are strong in God. David wrote in Psalm 18:34, "He teacheth my hands to war." God has equipped us for our spiritual warfare (read Ephesians 6:10-18).

In Nehemiah's day, the burden to rebuild the walls was great, as was the opposition of the enemy. Nehemiah admonished the people to fight, not just for themselves, but to fight for their families and houses. 

Nehemiah 4:14

And I looked, and rose up, and said unto the nobles, and to the rulers, and to the rest of the people, Be not ye afraid of them: remember the Lord, which is great and terrible, and fight for your brethren, your sons, and your daughters, your wives, and your houses.

The Apostle Paul encouraged Timothy, his son in the Lord.... "Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ." (II Timothy 2:3) Throughout the Bible, we find many references regarding the battle we are fighting. 

1 Timothy 6:12

Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.

We must be strong in the Lord, and take a stand. We are not weaklings because the power of God Almighty resides in us. Two of our strongest weapons are the word and prayer. It is vital that we use our weapons to defeat the enemy whose main objective is to steal, kill, and to destroy. There is victory in Jesus.

Once more, let me leave you with a few words to a beautiful song (written by a Bro. McFall):

I go to war on my knees

It's not flesh and blood I battle

But principalities

I'm fighting for my loved ones

And my family

So with my face before God

I go to war on my knees

Be not weary, faithful soldier of the cross. Keep fighting. Our last battle is not too far away!

Until tomorrow, be strong. We will prevail!  I read the back of the book and WE WIN!!

Friday's Footnote

Job 10:12

Thou hast granted me life and favour, and thy visitation hath preserved my spirit.

Good morning, my friends.... It's Friday!

A very precious part of life is the blessing of friendship. I love to talk, laugh and even cry with friends. Whenever I am privileged to go home for a few days, there is one friend that I make time to see because being with her is such a comfort to me (and she always tells me that the feeling is mutual). Our husbands are often finished talking long before we are even halfway through all we have to share!

Even though I thoroughly enjoy visiting with friends, there is one friendship that stands out above all others, and that's the deep, beautiful relationship with Jesus. Job wrote that he had been visited by God, and as a result of that visitation, his spirit was preserved. When God is our guest, communion with Him leaves us so much better off than we were before. Like Job, we can say that His visitation preserves us - keeps us safe from harm; keeps us up; maintains our spirits. Even if we rarely get to see family members and close friends, we MUST make time to welcome God into our daily affairs. We cannot hold up under life's daily pressures without time alone with Him.

Close friends share their deepest fears, frustrations and feelings with each other; they love each other's company. Imagine sitting in your favorite room, be it the living room, den, sun room, or kitchen and the guest in the room is the Lord. Wow! Talk about a wonderful visit; it is too much to comprehend. Yet, when we are Spirit-filled, it doesn't matter what room we're in or where we are, God is in us so He's there with us! It's comparable to a 24/7 visit with the best of friends!

Once again, like other mornings, a song came to mind, another old hymn (written by Joseph C. Ludgate), but so fitting for the spoonful we are digesting today: 

Friendship with Jesus

Fellowship divine

Oh, what blessed sweet communion

Jesus is a Friend of mine!

Let's make sure to keep our schedule open for a visit from our God today (and every day)!

"At the end of your life, you will never regret not having passed one more test, not winning one more verdict or not closing one more deal. You will regret time not spent with a husband, a friend, a child, or a parent." (or God- my addition)  - Barbara Bush

Footnote: Find a friend on this Friday, but most of all, find the Father who created friendship!

Thursday's Thought

Psalm 19:14

Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer.

Good morning, and a Terrific Thursday to you all!

The above verse from the book of Psalms has been special to me since I was a preteen, and I often refer to it even now that I am a senior citizen. It is truly my desire that the words I speak and the things I meditate on (or think about), are acceptable with God. He matters so much to me, and I matter so much to Him - even the things I talk and think about.

Continuing along this same vein, I'd like to turn our attention to three verses in Philippians:

Philippians 4:6-8

6 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.

7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

I often find myself pondering the eighth verse of this chapter, but this morning I found something precious in the two preceding verses. Paul is admonishing the Philippians that, rather than fret, they should pray about everything. Then, after praying, the peace of God that is far beyond anything a human can comprehend will keep our hearts and minds. Our thoughts are highly affected by our prayer life.

We are promised that a guard will be placed over our hearts and minds AFTER we pray about our needs, problems, desires, etc., (with gratitude, of course). The greatest battlefield in the Christian life is in the mind. Years ago, a pastor's wife told a groups of ladies.... "Most battles are fought and won in the mind." We cannot hope to go on to think on true and lovely things if we have not first communicated with God! Prayer is our greatest weapon against unkind, ungodly, and worrisome thoughts.

We waste a lot of precious time worrying over things. If we could set a goal of making prayer our first daily priority, then we could enjoy the awesome peace of God guarding our hearts and minds, all day, every day.

Something to think about..... until tomorrow, Lord willing......

Wednesday's Whisper

Psalm 77:14

Thou art the God that doest wonders: thou hast declared thy strength among the people.

Wow! It's Wonderful Wednesday again - how wonderful!

This morning, I'm sort of wondering about wonders. Have you ever just wondered about all that God is and all He performs in your life? Today, I really want to pause and dwell on as much wonder as one blog post can hold. Our God is a God who doest wonders, and His name is Wonderful (Isaiah 9:6).

I like this definition of wonder (noun) that I found:

a feeling of surprise mingled with admiration, caused by something beautiful, unexpected, unfamiliar, or inexplicable.

The words "with admiration, caused by something beautiful" stood out to me. All that God has done, is doing, or will do is beautiful. Can we honestly look at a gorgeous sunset and not feel the wonder of it? Or, the first budding flower of Spring? To hold a newborn baby brings about so much amazement. The crash of thunder or a streak of lightning - such power. These are just a few things that are considered wonders of God.

But, how about the wonderful things we feel? Watching a sinner repent at an altar, then witnessing his baptism in Jesus' name, and the power that radiates all around when the Holy Ghost comes down and fills him! THAT'S something truly amazing. God still heals, and I have seen the effect of His touch when that happens. The faces of children light up when Sunday School teachers tell them the story of David and Goliath for the very first time. 

My favorite story of wonder, though, is the birth of Jesus. As Mary holds her precious baby and looks into his sweet face, she is looking into the face of a skin-robed God. She was the first to hold the King! In that lowly setting, so far removed from the normal nursery, God came near. The shepherds, still shaking with wonder after the heavenly choir sang to them on the hillside, were filled with more amazement when they looked upon this newborn Savior. Amazing! Marvelous - not only then, but still today.

A few lines of a very old song came to mind this morning,

O the wonder of it all

The wonder of it all

To think that God loves me

May we never lose the awe that comes when we reflect on God and His wonders. I hope our spirit of amazement is renewed every day, just like His mercies.

A wonder-filled Wednesday to all of you!

Tuesday's Tidbit

Good morning to all of you..... it's Tuesday, and time for another spoonful of daily tonic!

Today's topic is about troubles, tribulation, and triumph!

TROUBLES

Psalm 34:17

The righteous cry, and the Lord heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles.

Psalm 34:19

Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the Lord delivereth him out of them all.

In this life, it is inevitable that we will deal with troubles (or afflictions). Yet, we have hope that when we cry, the Lord will deliver us out of all our troubles. We need only to cry, and the Lord hears us. It is not a quick-fix type of situation nor can it be compared to a microwave dinner - pop in a prayer, hit a button, and out comes an answer. That would be awesome if that's how it worked. Life is a journey. Life is a process. We walk through it by trusting the Lord every step of the way.

TRIBULATION

John 16:33

These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

Tribulation seems to be GREAT trouble; distress that is more intense. Troubles are trouble enough but tribulation presses hard on us. Yet, we hold onto another promise from the word of God that we can be of good cheer even in the midst of tribulation because Jesus overcame the world. Again, the only way to endure tribulation is by holding onto our faith and trust in Him. We will overcome as Jesus did!

TRIUMPH

2 Corinthians 2:14

Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place.

2 Corinthians 4:17

For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;

To triumph means to be victorious or successful. Every time we come through a time of trouble or tribulation without losing our faith or trust, we are triumphant! Satan has not won. We are the victors - through Christ. It has often been said that the harder the battle, the sweeter the victory. We all have a testimony of the many times we have come through an ordeal, battle scarred, yet we maintained our integrity with God through it all.

And then, one day, and hopefully it will be soon, the troubles and tribulation of life will be past. One glimpse of the sweet face of Jesus, and all we endured throughout our journey of life will be nothing more than "light affliction" compared to the glory we will experience on the other side! Our final triumph!!

So, Christian pilgrims, tread through the troubles and tribulation..... Triumph awaits!

Until tomorrow, Lord willing..........

Monday's Moment

Deuteronomy 3:24

O Lord God, thou hast begun to shew thy servant thy greatness, and thy mighty hand: for what God is there in heaven or in earth, that can do according to thy works, and according to thy might?

Good Marvelous Monday to all my blog friends!

Many mornings I awake with a song on my mind, and today was no exception -

What a mighty God we serve

Mighty God we serve

Angels bow before this mighty God we serve

I looked up the definition for mighty, and this is what I found:

Possessing great and impressive power or strength, especially on account of size.

The last part of that definition kind of leaped off the page... "especially on account of size." Our verse today points out that OUR God is the only One in heaven and in earth that can do what He does and with such might! And we are His children - and He is our God! So when we pray to Him in the most dire of situations, He is well able to do what we ask Him to do.

There is no weakness in our God - not one tiny smidgen. We are weak but He is strong!

Psalm 89:13

Thou hast a mighty arm: strong is thy hand, and high is thy right hand.

Our God has a mighty arm, as well as a strong and high right hand. There is no mountain He cannot move; no burden He cannot lift!

Psalm 150:2

Praise him for his mighty acts: praise him according to his excellent greatness.

What a good practice for us to daily praise God for His mighty acts! If we would all write down the many mighty acts that God has done for us throughout our lives, we would soon run out of paper and ink!

O What a mighty God we serve!!! 

Our God is moving on this Monday!!! Trust Him to move for YOU!!! 

Until tomorrow......

Sunday's Specialty

Matthew 5:13-14

Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.

Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.

Good morning, and a sweet, spiritually seasoned Sunday to all of you.....

From the great Sermon on the Mount, with our focus on the above two verses, Jesus instructed his disciples to be salt and light in the world; a message still relevant to His disciples in 2015. 

What is the purpose of salt? For one thing, just a handful of salt has the ability to flavor much. Salt has the power to prick or penetrate; it is quick and powerful (Hebrews 4:12). The heart is purified by salt. With reference to food, salt brings pleasantness to something bland, so also does the gospel to our lives. One other quality of salt is that it preserves; it keeps things fresh while holding rot and spoil at bay. Jesus also told his disciples in Mark 9:50 to have "salt in yourselves." In his writings to the Colossians, the Apostle Paul admonishes them:

Colossians 4:6

Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.

And now, let's talk about the light. We are the light of the world, and our light comes from the Light - Jesus Christ. Just as the first rays of light break forth each morning, dispelling the blackness of night, so is the gospel of Jesus Christ - it brings rays of sweet hope that drive out the blackness of sin. As lights to this world, we must shine as cities that are set on a hill. We must never hide our lights under a bushel. The darker the world gets, the brighter we must shine. 

We have a great responsibility today to bring spiritual flavor and light to those who sit in dark, sinful places. We are seasoned with God's grace (or salt) and illuminated inside by the power of the Holy Ghost. Let us not withhold what we have... let us sprinkle spiritual salt and shine brightly - for Jesus!!!

Until tomorrow, have a well-seasoned Sunday.......

Saturday's Snippet

Psalm 27:6

And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me: therefore will I offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy; I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the Lord.

Sweet Saturday greetings!

As I awoke this morning, several songs started playing over and over in my head, and I took it as a nudge for today's spoonful of tonic. Oh, how good it is to sing and to enjoy God's blessing of music!

This song came to mind  - (I could not find the author's name)......

I have a happy song to sing today

For all my burdens have been rolled away

When at the foot of the cross I knelt

It was there the peace of God I felt

Something happened that I can't explain

And since that day I've never been the same

It's a marvelous, glorious, wonderful day to serve the Lord

Then another chorus followed.... (words by Eliza E. Hewitt; music by William J. Kirkpatrick)

Singing I go along life's road

Praising the Lord, praising the Lord

Singing I go along life's road

For Jesus has lifted my load

Beautiful lyrics and melodies have a unique way of lifting one's spirit. A friend of mine mentioned that it's hard to be sad when you're singing, and I have found that to be so true. Singing may not change the situation but it will change the way our heart feels about it. Another favorite Bible verse of mine is:

Zephaniah 3:17

The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing.

We are not alone in our struggles, nor do we sing solo...... the Lord sings with us, and oh, what a duet we make. The best harmony ever heard. Listen really close - the Lord's voice is so powerful and strong, and He is the greatest of all composers!

As I close this blog for today.... I'll leave you with yet another song  (written by Andrae Crouch) -

I'm gonna keep on singing

I'm gonna keep on shouting

I'm gonna keep on lifting my voice

And let the world know that Jesus saves

Friday's Footnote

Psalm 116:8

For thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling.

Good morning, and a Fabulous Friday, Friends!!!

As I was pondering the subject for today's spoonful, I began to think about feet, then the subject turned to walking, then falling..... So, I put my proverbial foot down, and started writing! Throughout this blog, you may have noticed that I often use verses from the book of Psalms, and I guess it is because I love this book in the Bible. Today's verse is no exception with David's expression of gratitude that God had delivered him from death, wiped away his tears, and kept his feet from falling. 

We are living in slippery times, evil is everywhere, and even though we are walking with the King, the imminent danger of falling is a daily concern. It is important that we daily pray this prayer with David:

Psalm 119:133

Order my steps in thy word: and let not any iniquity have dominion over me.

Walking with God in His word is a sure plan to keep our feet from falling, as well as keeping evil beneath us and not ruling over us.

Another verse that I love is this one:

Habakkuk 3:19

The Lord God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds' feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places. To the chief singer on my stringed instruments.

Many years ago, I heard a minister say that the hind was like a deer but when this animal leaped, the rear hooves went directly into the prints made by the front hooves. I have searched several times to find more information along those lines but have been unsuccessful, yet I liked that view. If our feet are like hinds' feet, then as we follow Jesus, our feet will go directly into the prints he leaves!

A simple chorus also came to mind this morning:

Hallelujah, we're walking with the King

Praise His holy name

Walking with the King 

Hallelujah, we're walking with the King

Every day we're walking with the King

The Apostle Paul admonishes the Galatians -

Galatians 5:16

This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.

The allurement to follow a smoother path rears its ugly head on a daily basis, but our feet will never slip if we walk in the Spirit, with our steps ordered of the Lord, and follow where He leads.

Oh, and here's Friday's Footnote. Take a look at your feet and say, "Feet, we're going to follow the Father's footsteps this Friday, and every day hereafter!"

Thursday's Thought

Psalm 25:4

Shew me thy ways, O Lord; teach me thy paths.

Psalm 86:11

Teach me thy way, O Lord; I will walk in thy truth: unite my heart to fear thy name.

Good morning.... after reading the two verses above, I decided that today's spoonful topic will be:

My Thursday's Thought  - I pray to be taught!

Throughout the book of Psalms, David often prayed to God, with a simple two letter plea - "Teach me". He knew that God was the ultimate Teacher, so with a humble heart he made his requests, not once but over and over again. David's tone suggested a strong, earnest desire to learn from the Most High God.

As humans, we can try to lean on our own understanding and map out the course of our lives, but when we do, we often meet with disaster. How much better it would be for all of us, if we became students of the Lord Jesus Christ? He is the First and the Last, the Alpha and Omega, Beginning and the End. Who but God knows all? Imagine sitting in a classroom with God Almighty at the head of the class, writing lessons on the chalkboard, and answering all of our questions! I like that visual.

We never get too old to learn something new, especially when it relates to our walk with God. Let us seek to be as hungry to learn God's statutes as the child who is going to kindergarten on his very first day. May our hearts be so childlike in the pursuit of His knowledge and wisdom, that we absorb all the sights and sounds in His classroom, anxious to read His textbook (the Bible), and falling in love with the Teacher!!

It's just a spoonful, this Thursday's Thought...

But oh, how my heart yearns of God to be taught!