Unto The Least of These Encouraging Inspirational Messages of Hope

Showing posts with label meditation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label meditation. Show all posts

Friday, October 18, 2019

Their Voice Has Gone Out To All The Earth




All Glory To God Forever (Inspired by Psalm 19)



The heavens sing of Thy glory,

The skies reveal Thy work 

Every day they sing of Thee

In songs that have no words...


Every day and night they sing


They pour forth melodies
 
In a language without sound

Their love to Thee they bring.



Though their speech be silent

Their grammar be unknown
Their syntax may be foreign
Yet God will make them known...


Everywhere in all the earth


In every place they go 

God makes their language understood

Where their songs are sown.



They sing God’s holy truths

Every night and day

They glorify the Most High

They praise His holy name...



Before all of the Angels

And all the Universe

Their songs are triumphs of His grace

That display His works...



All glory to God forever 

They’re singing all the day...

All glory! Glory! Glory!

May Christ be ever praised!


All glory to Christ forever


Who saved the world from sin

May Christ be praised forevermore

By all who honor Him,

In Jesus’ holy name,

Amen.


(Prayer Song) All Glory To Christ, 
Copyright © 2019 by SD Harden All rights reserved.
 
___________________________________________________

For Meditation


  • “The heavens declare the glory of God. The expanse shows His handiwork. Day after day they pour out speech, and night after night they display knowledge.
    • There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard. Their voice has gone out through all the earth, their words to the end of the world...” Psalms 19:1-4 WEB 
 

  • “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known of God is revealed in them, for God revealed it to them.

  • "For the invisible things of Him since the creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made, even His everlasting power and divinity; that they may be without excuse."         
  • 
"Because, *knowing God, they didn’t glorify Him as God, neither gave thanks, but became vain in their reasoning, and their senseless heart was darkened.”~ Romans 1:18-21 WEB    

*Please note that Paul addresses these words to those who are Believers in God, to those who DO KNOW GOD. The word Paul used for *know is:
•    Strongs1097 γινώσκω [GINW/SKW] {ginṓskō} \ghin-oce'-ko\a prolonged form of a primary verb; to "know" (absolutely)(allow, be aware (of), feel, (have) know(-ledge), perceived, be resolved, can speak, be sure, understand.

*Please re-read the above passages in Romans 1 -not as addressed to unbelievers, -but as to the believer who has suppressed the truth about God in Christ...
One needs to READ the Bible and not merely books ABOUT the Bible, i.e., --commentaries by people. 
Because we are ALL human and we all make mistakes.

One needs to read what our Lord Jesus and the Apostles taught~~not what so and so taught, or even what a denomination or school or theology or philosophy that professes to be Christianity taught or teaches ~because our destiny is at stake.


Jesus said, “But don’t you be called ‘Rabbi,’ for one is your teacher, the Christ, and all of you are brothers. Call no man on the earth your father, for one is your Father, he who is in heaven. Neither be called masters, for one is your master, the Christ. But he who is greatest among you will be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” ~Matthew 23:8-12 WEB

If we argue that the pastor or a famous person is more educated and better able to teach us than Jesus Christ from His Word or the Holy Spirit through His word, then we do not truly believe Jesus’ words.

We become a follower of our pastor or famous teacher, author, philosopher, or school rather than Jesus Christ when we believe their words have more authority than the risen Lord and Savior whom we profess to love and serve.
However, that person we are following and putting our faith in cannot save us from our sins.

If we are a follower of a human and not actually following Christ, we confess by our lives that we do not actually believe the above words Christ spoke that He alone must be our MAIN TEACHER~ RABBI; nor will we ever comprehend or really believe in our hearts the following verses ( *See below) from the Word of God.

If any teacher or leader suppresses these important teachings or tries to explain or twist  them so that they do not mean just what the reader absolutely understands that they mean, then those leaders deny Christ and suppress the truth about God.

Meditate on the following bible verses…they reinforce Jesus’ teachings that we must abide in HIM, allow His Holy Spirit to privately teach us as we maintain a consistent prayer life with Him, worship Him, and personally study His Word with Him that we might come to know our Lord and Savior personally and glorify Him as we were created to.

All we have is idolatry if we reverse His paradigm of worshiping Jesus first and foremost.
If we make anything but Jesus our Head, we will have only an idol.

The first commandment is to love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, soul, mind, and strength. (Deuteronomy 6:5)

If we stop loving JESUS as our Head, we will wander off into error and we will, before we know it, change the truth of God into a lie and be self deceived yet still call ourselves a Christian.
Meditate:

    •    Jesus said, “He that loveth Me not keepeth not My sayings: and the word which ye hear is not Mine, but the Father's which sent Me."
    •    "These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you. But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in My name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you."
    •    "Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send Him unto you."
    •    "Howbeit when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth: for He shall not speak of Himself; but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak: and He will shew you things to come. He shall glorify Me: for He shall receive of Mine, and shall shew it unto you.” ~ John 14:24-26,16:7,13-14 KJV  

    •    Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
    •    For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
    •    And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever. 

    •    Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.
    •    They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.
    •    But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things. I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth.
    •    Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.
    •    Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also. 


    •    Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father.
    •    And this is the promise that He hath promised us, even eternal life. 

    •    These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you.
    •    But the anointing which ye have received of Him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in Him.
    •    And now, little children, abide in Him; that, when He shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before Him at His coming. 

    •    If ye know that He is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of Him.”~ 1 John 2:15-29 - KJV     

Unto The Least Of These, Copyright © 2019 by SD Harden, All rights reserved, All Glory to God, Prayer Poem, All Glory To God, Copyright © 2019 by SD Harden, All rights reserved, All Glory to Christ,Scripture Collage Painting, Copyright © 2019 by SD Harden, All rights reserved, All Glory to God, Scripture Quotations taken from the King James Version Bible, and World English Bible WEB) (Public Domain)


Friday, September 30, 2016

"Fear Not" an Encouraging Scripture Video by Suzanne Davis Harden




"Fear Not"
 ~ An Encouraging Scripture Video 
by Suzanne Davis Harden~

My new video "Fear Not" Features comforting bible promises, narration, peaceful video images, and calming background vocals. 

May the Lord use this video He inspired to comfort and encourage the hearts of all who watch it. In Jesus' name, amen.

"For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." ~ 2 Timothy 1:7

But now thus saith the Lord that created thee...and He that formed thee... "Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art Mine." ~Isaiah 43:1

Thursday, October 29, 2015

The Heavenly Servant


"Christ Washing Peter's Feet" by Ford Maddox Brown (19th C British Pre-Raphaelite Artist)


The Heavenly Servant

John 13:1, 3-10 (ERV)
It was almost time for the Jewish Passover festival.
Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go back to the Father. 
Jesus had always loved the people in the world who were his. 
Now was the time he showed them his love the most...
The Father had given Jesus power over everything. 
Jesus knew this. 
He also knew that he had come from God. 
And he knew that he was going back to God. 
So while they were eating, Jesus stood up and took off his robe. He got a towel and wrapped it around his waist. 
Then he poured water into a bowl and began to wash the followers’ feet. 
He dried their feet with the towel that was wrapped around his waist. 
He came to Simon Peter. 
But Peter said to him, “Lord, you should not wash my feet.”
Jesus answered, “You don’t know what I am doing now. 
But later you will understand.” 
Peter said, “No! You will never wash my feet.”
Jesus answered, “If I don’t wash your feet, you are not one of my people.” 
Simon Peter said, “Lord, after you wash my feet, wash my hands and my head too!” 
Jesus said, “After a person has a bath, his whole body is clean. He needs only to wash his feet. And you are clean...” 

In this Scripture passage, Jesus is giving His disciples a powerful visual metaphor of His mission on earth, who He is and why He has come.

The Apostles will not understand the full scope of His mission until after His death on the cross and resurrection though.

"So while they were eating, Jesus stood up and took off his robe." 

Here Jesus is showing that He laid aside His Heavenly Throne temporarily and in the words of St. Paul,  "although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men." (Philippians 2:6-7 NASB)

"(Jesus) got a towel and wrapped it around his waist. Then he poured water into a bowl and began to wash the followers’ feet. He dried their feet with the towel that was wrapped around his waist."

Jesus, their Master and Lord, performed this humble task of washing His disciples feet, a menial chore that normally a slave or common household laborer would have done, in order to graphically demonstrate His mission from the Father. 

He also wants to remind them that He is their example in all things. Whatever He does, they must likewise do. 
Be humble. Love one another. Serve one another. 
Why? Because He is their Lord and has asked them to, just as He is now on His earthly mission because His Father has asked Him to do it. 
You can never have love without obedience in true worship.

Why does Jesus need to clean the disciple's feet? 
Because they are stained with sin. 
Jesus is showing them that His mission is to cleanse people of their sins. 
What would have been the filthiest part of the body in a time when most people walked everywhere over rugged roads and basically wore sandals? 
Jesus came to cleanse the filthiest part of each of us---our hearts. 

Matthew 15:19-20 (NASB) "For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders. These are the things which defile the man...” 

Jeremiah 17:9 (NASB) “The heart is more deceitful than all else
And is desperately sick; Who can understand it? 

Jesus came to cleanse away the stain of sin that each of us are born with and to  make us whole, to redeem us from the curse of death and hell and to give us His own righteousness which we could not ever earn by being good enough on our own. 
Only Jesus Christ can wash our sins away.
Detail: Ford Maddox Brown Artist 19th C British

Peter said, “No! You will never wash my feet.”
Jesus answered, “If I don’t wash your feet, you are not one of my people.”

Jesus Christ told Peter that if He did not wash him, he could not be one of His people. 



Only the shed blood of Jesus Christ can wash away the stain of our sins. 

Jesus Christ was the spotless Lamb of God sent to bear our sins on the cross as a blood sacrifice. He died in our place so that our sins could be forgiven. 

In Christ's demonstration to His disciples He had wrapped the towel of a slave around Himself and washed their feet as a slave would have. 
We are all slaves of sin apart from salvation in Christ.
Sinless Jesus took off His beautiful Heavenly spotless sinless robe and put on our robes stained with the slavery of sin and bore them on the cross.


"For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ." ~2 Corinthians 5:21

Hebrews 9:22 "And according to the Law, one may almost say, all things are cleansed with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness."

On the third day God raised Christ from the dead. All who receive Jesus into their hearts as their Lord and Savior will be raised from the dead and given eternal life with Christ in Paradise.

John 11:25-26 (NASB) "Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die.” 

By washing their feet, Jesus wanted to leave His disciples with a powerful visual reminder of what His earthly mission was all about.
His humble, selfless act still speaks to us today about our need for His cleansing from our sins.
It tells us to follow His example of obedience and love to His Father and to serve one another humbly out of our love, obedience and worship to Him.

John 3:16-17 (NASB) “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. 



Prayer
Heavenly Father, thank You for sending Thy only Son to cleanse us from our sins. 
Thank You, Lord Jesus, for laying aside Your Heavenly Throne for a season so that You could suffer & bear our sins on the cross & die in our place; 
Thank You Holy Spirit for making Thy truth known to our hearts,
We love You, Lord,  in Jesus' name, amen. 



"The Heavenly Servant" © 2015 Suzanne Davis Harden All Rights Reserved. //Bible Illustration by Ford Maddox Brown, 19th century British Pr-Raphaelite Painter, //Photo of Jesus holding Lamb via Pinterest//Scripture Quotations (NASB) New American Standard Bible, © 1995 The Lockman Foundation All Rights Reserved.// (ERV) © 2006 World Bible Translation Center All Rights Reserved. /"Nothing But The Blood" Music Video & Vocals © 2015 Suzanne Davis Harden

Tuesday, May 12, 2015

God Is My Refuge





GOD IS MY REFUGE

In Psalm 91:2 the Psalmist wrote,  

 "I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust." 

The word here used for "refuge" according to the Strong's Bible Concordance is מחסה makh-as-eh'
The word means a shelter (literally or figuratively).

The Psalmist is saying that God is his place of hope, place of refuge, his shelter, and trust. 

No matter what trial we may face along our life's path, if we make God our refuge from the storm, from danger~ even when it comes pouring down like rain all over our lives, He will shelter us and keep us safe.   

But there is also another interesting aspect about the word  "makhaseh" ~ God can be our refuge from falsehood or deception. 
In John 10:4-5 Jesus Christ said, 

"And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice. 
 And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers."



The word for "know" according to Strong's means "to understand, perceive, have certain knowledge of, are sure of."

Predators abound on the Internet who try to deceive unsuspecting people all the time. There are many false teachers today who are teaching error concerning the Bible. Straying from the foundational Truths of the Christian faith, yet calling themselves Christians, they are leading many astray who are not abiding in the word of God nor making Christ their Refuge.




The only way we can come to know our Good Shepherd's voice is to spend time with Him, to make Him our Refuge. That choice is up to us.
When we make Him our refuge He will be a shelter from every storm we face and protect us from every deception of the enemy that tries to lead us astray. 

The Lord gives His children His Holy Spirit. Jesus said in John 16:13,
 "But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth."

The Holy Spirit gives us discernment as we abide in Christ, read God's word, pray, and worship regularly. This is daily making God our  Refuge.
This is how we get to know Him as our Good Shepherd and learn His voice. And He makes this promise to us in John 10:27-30 

"My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” 


Prayer
Heavenly Father, I pray you will be my Refuge, my Fortress, my God in who I trust today and every day. 
Lord Jesus, my Good Shepherd, teach me to know Thy voice, shelter me from every storm, protect me from every deception, and keep me always close to Thy heart, filled with Thy love and light, in Jesus' name, amen. 

"God Is My Refuge" © 2015 Suzanne Davis Harden All Rights Reserved. Scripture Illustrations via Pinterest

Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Nothing Can Separate You From God's Love

"In Thy Tender Care" © Kathy Lawrence LDS ART.com

Nothing Can Separate You From God's Love

Even if all the demons in hell were to join forces and line up side by side and pull with all their might, they still would not be strong enough to pull you from the almighty grip of Your Heavenly Father's strong hands. 

No power in all the universe is stronger than the love of God revealed in Jesus Christ our Savior. 

Jesus Christ said, "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. 
And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. 

My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. I and My Father are one." (John 10:27-30)

We can completely trust every word that Jesus spoke for this is what St. Peter wrote about Him: "Christ committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth” ~(1 Peter 2:22)

St. Paul wrote in the book of Romans 8:35-39:

"Who then can ever keep Christ’s love from us? 
When we have trouble or calamity, when we are hunted down or destroyed, is it because he doesn’t love us anymore? 

And if we are hungry or penniless or in danger or threatened with death, has God deserted us? 

No, for the Scriptures tell us that for his sake we must be ready to face death at every moment of the day—we are like sheep awaiting slaughter; 
but despite all this, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ 
who loved us enough to die for us. 

For I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from his love. 
Death can’t, and life can’t. 
The angels won’t, and all the powers of hell itself cannot keep God’s love away. 

Our fears for today, our worries about tomorrow, or where we are—
high above the sky, or in the deepest ocean—
nothing will ever be able to separate us from the love of God 
demonstrated by our Lord Jesus Christ when he died for us." 

Those are powerful promises, as valid today as they were two thousand years ago when they were first penned by the apostle who faced death at the hands of a cruel Roman emperor who considered the killing of Christians an exciting sporting event. 

As I read the Gospels and epistles of the New Testament and consider what the early church suffered in its love for Jesus Christ, and yet how faithful those servants of God remained to Him despite overwhelming trials, I think how else could they have remained so loyal to Christ but by the Almighty hand of God! 
He was entirely faithful to keep them in His love, to keep them from falling away no matter how much they were persecuted and opposed by their enemies, spiritual and human. 

St. Jude wrote,  "And He is able to keep you from slipping and falling away, and to bring you, sinless and perfect, into His glorious presence with mighty shouts of everlasting joy." 
(Jude 1:24-b)

"And now—all glory to him who alone is God, who saves us through Jesus Christ our Lord; yes, splendor and majesty, all power and authority are his from the beginning..."~(Jude 1:24-a)

~Yes, praise our almighty God! No matter what battle we may be struggling with today, 
our God is able to bring us out of it victoriously. For He will never fail or forsake us!
 "He keeps every promise forever."~(Psalm 146:6)

Prayer

Heavenly Father, thank You for Your assurance that nothing can ever separate us from You once we have accepted Christ as our Savior and Lord. 
Thank You for Your amazing love that sacrificed Your only Son for our sins so You could clothe us with His righteousness.
We acceptYour beautiful gift of Your precious Son Jesus Christ into our hearts and desire to live for You and be clothed evermore with His righteousness. 
We ask You to take all our sins away forever as far as the east is from the west. 
And we thank You for doing this. 
Thank You for making us new creatures in Christ that can never be separated from Your holy love. 
Thank You for filling us with Your Spirit.
We Love You, Lord.
In Jesus name. Amen.

Unto The Least of These, Nothing Can Ever Separate You From God's Love © 2013 Suzanne Davis Harden, All Rights Reserved. Illustration by © Kathy Lawrence, LDS ART.com