UNTO THE LEAST OF THESE

Wednesday, March 30, 2016

God's Word Is Eternal

"Your lovingkindness, O Lord, extends to the heavens, Your faithfulness reaches to the skies."

~ Psalm 36:5

Lord, Thy Word is eternal

Thy love mounts to the skies

Even when the clouds obscure

Thy face from me sometimes.

Lord, Thy mercy reaches

To the depths of Sheol

To shelter me in suffering,

You heal my broken soul.

Lord, You hear my every cry

And though I see no form

You've promised You will answer me

For You are in control.

Lord, Thy word is eternal,

Thy promises are true,

You promise that You'll meet my needs

And what You say, You'll do.

Lord, Thy mercy reaches

To the skies above

You're weaving out of all my paths

A temple of Thy love.

Prayer

Dear Heavenly Father, thank You for Thy merciful love toward each of us that

reaches to the heavens; a love so great that, to the Psalmist, it was an incalculable span.

Thy word proclaims that Thy love and mercy toward us are immeasurable, that You hear our every cry, that no matter how wretched the turmoil our world may be in, You are in control and that you are weaving all the paths of those who love You to come out right in the end.

We give You thanks for Thy measureless mercy and love that will never reject nor forsake the soul who seeks You. We love You, Lord! In Jesus' name, amen.

Friday, March 4, 2016

Put On Your Spiritual Armor

Dear Friends,

The following message was written by my friend Deborah Mac Manes. It's an excellent meditation on Paul's metaphor about our spiritual armor that we need to wear daily for, as the apostle writes in his epistle to the Ephesians, "we wrestle not against flesh and blood."

_______________

Debby's Message

Scripture tells us that a Roman guard was stationed with Paul in his prison cell. Paul must have seen this guard put on his suit of armor many times, which is why he wrote the metaphor about winning the spiritual battle with spiritual armor.

I would like to elaborate on my, daily, prayer with a more in-depth meaning behind each piece of armor:

I wear the helmet of salvation to filter my thoughts ... The spiritual battle begins with a thought that enters our mind. If it is an evil thought and we dismiss it, we have won that fight. If we retain the thought and dwell on it, we are entertaining Satan's whisper. Finally, if we act upon this evil thought, Satan has won this particular battle, we have sinned, and we have grieved the Holy Spirit who dwells inside of us. The helmet of eternal salvation is to protect our thoughts right from the start.

I put on the breastplate of righteousness to protect my heart ... The old testament High Priest would wear a breastplate of judgement. Inside this pouch were two stones called the Urim and Thummin that he would, sometimes, use to determine God's will. Since Christ is our Lord, Savior, High Priest, and King, our breastplate is of righteousness in Christ Jesus and our hearts are protected in Christ Jesus from this unbelieving and evil world.

I am protected by the shield of faith from the flaming missiles of Satan .., Satan attacks us with fiery darts and our steadfast faith in Christ Jesus is the shield that protects us against anything that he is allowed to throw at us. We need to fight the good fight of the faith.

I carry the sword of the Holy Spirit, the Word of the living God ... A sword is both an offensive and defensive weapon. We carry the sword of the Scriptures or Bible which is God's Word. We need to live and breathe God's Word so that we will be strong and effective in helping to save souls, along with strengthening the souls who have been saved. We need to be able to wield the 'truth' in whatever direction the Lord leads us. We can, only, do this with a firm understanding of His Word.

I am belted with truth and righteousness, to glorify you, Holy Father, while walking in the Gospel of peace ... Our fight is a spiritual one; not physical. The bible tells us to live a quiet and peaceful life, and we are to mind our own business. Our responsibility in this life is to walk in the shoes of peace and be the light of the world. We are to carry His teachings in our minds and hearts, spread and abide by His Word wherever we go, and give all glorify and honor to our Holy Father through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. All glory to Him!

The author of this message, Deborah Mac Manes, is a bible study teacher and servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. As captain and founder of the Spiritual Elegance Team, she moderates this online ministry group which is part of the Etsy marketplace. Deborah is the creative artist and owner of Designs by DM Candles located at designsbydmcandles.etsy.com.

Tuesday, March 1, 2016

In The Shadow Of The Most High

In The Shadow of The Most High

Those who dwell with God

In the shadow of His hand

Must leave their worries all behind

Their fears, and all their cares.

For in God's shadow shelter

Only peace abides

And those who come to Him must walk

By faith within His light.

Those who dwell in the secret place

Of the Most High God

Must trust in Him with all their heart

Although they see Him not.

The Lord must be their Refuge

From the winds that roar,

From the surging, mounting waves

From every howling storm.

Their eyes must be upon their Lord,

Their shelter from the wind,

They must believe and trust they're safe

As long as they're in Him.

No matter what their eyes tell them,

Nor ears say to their heart,

They must trust that in God's Hand

They're safe from troubles dark.

They must trust God's in control

And all will soon be well,

The storms will cease and there'll be peace

For Jesus keeps their soul.

Prayer

Dear Heavenly Father, please hide me in the shadow shelter of Thy heart; deliver me from every storm of fear, doubt, and anxiety that comes to rip away my peace and joy.

Thank You for the precious assurances in Thy word You have given that promise, "Thou wilt keep in perfect peace the one who keeps his mind on You..." (Isaiah 26:3) and "Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:39)

Thank You for Thy faithfulness and Thy love that will not ever fail us no matter what crisis we are facing; for You are with us in every battle, You hold us through every storm, thank You Lord, in Jesus' name, amen.

Monday, January 25, 2016

Christ Holds Everything Together By His Word

"The Son reflects the glory of God and shows exactly what God is like. He holds everything together with his powerful word." ~ Hebrews 1:3 (NCV)

Jesus Christ rules the universe the Bible says and holds it together by His powerful word.
In fact, the bible says that by His word He created the whole world!

Psalm 33:8-9 says "He spoke and it was done...He commanded and it stood fast."

Our lives are so uncertain. We've just experienced a massive winter storm where I live that produced record amounts of snow and single digit temperatures.
With the snow and ice come power outages and frozen pipes. When there are no shelters from the cold and wind, where do the poor homeless go?
When the storms of life come, things we normally take for granted can be temporarily ~or even sometimes permanently ~lost.

Somewhere someone is struggling with chronic pain, another is dealing with cancer, a single mom just found out her job was terminated and she has no prospects for how she’s going to support her young family. A husband was told his wife no longer loves him. A couple just learned that their teenage child committed suicide. Missionaries serving the Lord in countries hostile to Christianity live in fear that they could be martyred any day for their faith.

That is just a fraction of the myriad sorrows that happen to countless people in our world every day. The Lord looks down from heaven and He sees it all. He sees every broken heart and the bible asserts that He has a special bottle where He stores every person's tears.

"You keep track of all my sorrows.
You have collected all my tears in your bottle." ~ Psalm 56:8 (NLT)

Yet none of us can bear a pain or any sorrow that Jesus has not first borne upon His cross where He carried in His body all the sins and sorrows of our race.

He knows and feels all of our pain. And because He has felt it, He understands.
He cherishes each one of us as if we were the only one He had to care for. He stands at His Father's right Hand and He prays for our every need.

Whatever has fallen apart or is threatening to fall apart in my world today, I can come to Jesus and ask Him to hold it together, or to hold me together by His grace through whatever crisis I must face.

As the Lord Jesus Christ sits at the Father's right hand in Heaven praying night and day for us all, He hears every prayer that comes before His altar. (Romans 8:34)

No one is insignificant to Him who gave His life on the cross to redeem our souls from the curse of sin and to give us eternal life.

Concerning prayer, Jesus told His disciples, "Ask and it shall be given you, seek and ye shall find, knock and the door shall be opened."

Trust God. No matter how chaotic the world may appear at times, He is still on His throne. One of God's names is Adonai. According to the Easton's Bible Dictionary this name means one who possesses "absolute control."

"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. ~ Hebrews 13:8 (NLT)

His Word promises “God causes everything to work togetherfor the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.” ~Romans 8:28 (NLT)

In good times or bad, remember always, that God’s word promises: “Nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.” ~Romans 8:38-39 (NLT)

PRAYER

Lord Jesus, may You hear and answer the prayers of every person who needs You to hold something together in their life today. Please fill each heart with rivers of peace and hope, and faith. Lord, I ask You to hold families together, marriages together, people's health together, their minds together, whatever is threatening to fall apart in their personal worlds today, may You by Your almighty power hold it together by Thy holy word as we trust and put our faith in You; thank You, Lord, we love You, in Jesus' mighty name, amen.

*Please take a moment to view my new music video, "God Is In Control." May the Instrumental Prayersong & Lyrics comfort and encourage your hearts. ~
Love & Blessings, Suzanne

"Christ Holds All Things Together By His Word" ~ © 2016 Suzanne Davis Harden All Rights Reserved. Music Video: "God Is In Control" © 2016 Suzanne Davis Harden All Rights Reserved. Art/Photo Credits: Scripture Pic via You Version Bible App, All other Scripture Pics via Pinterest, Scripture References New Living Translation © 2013 Tyndale House All Rights Reserved. New Century Version © 2005 Thomas Nelson All Rights Reserved.