Praise be to you, Jesus, my Lord and God, for the privilege of waking up and knowing that I am at peace with you, that our relationship is grace-filled, good and gloriously positive.
Thank you for your wonderful unmerited love, ever flowing to me, over me, throug…
Psalm 24:1 “The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it;”
[To you belong all things, O Lord Yahweh, the Great Creator God. Every square inch of land, every drop of water, every plant, every mineral, every molecule as well as ev…
Written a good number of years ago when I faced with three difficult situations simultaneously and turned to Psalm 18 for comfort and encouragement.
Psalm 18:32 “It is God who arms me with strength” [In my weakness, your strength is perfected.] “and makes my way…
What a wonder you are, Lord Jesus, in your willingness to suffer the anguish of the cross, the despair of abandonment, the pain of rejection, the battering of Satan’s attacks, the horror of becoming sin, the crushing weight of the Father’s judgment, the banishment…
Posted on May 1st, 2024
Prayer is a powerful, transformative practice that fosters a profound connection with the divine, enriches our daily lives, and provides a steady source of guidance and comfort.
Developing a habit of praying every day is not just about s…
Posted on May 1st, 2024
Finding relevance and solace in the ancient texts of the Bible may seem like a challenge, yet it is more applicable and transformative than ever.
Applying scripture to your everyday life not only deepens your spiritual journey but also o…
Praise you, Lord Jesus, that you are the Sovereign King, the One has a plan and will work things out, who will bring good things to pass in the best way—even out of all that is negative.
Praise you, too, Lord Jesus, for reminding me last night that you are the On…
Because of computfer problems I've been unable to post every day, but "God sighting" Josh is here for our 50th and was able to fix things. Thank you, Lord.
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The continuation of the story of losing my hearing aid.
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I returned to join…
Today, April 28th, is our 50thwedding anniversary! Sure doesn’t seem like 50 years. It has been wonderful being married to this beautiful and fine woman. Way back when in 1973 after we met at His Mansion and Barbara began working with me in the church youth group…
It was a beautiful, warm and sunny Sunday afternoon, so we went for a walk in the woods with my son Josh and his little family.
About halfway through, I noticed that one of my hearing aids was missing. Instantly I realized what had happened: I’d been carrying my …
You, Lord Jesus, are deeply caring, wisely working, godly in guiding, persistent in protecting. You are the only One we can trust--all others and all else are shifting sands.
Praise be to you for your lavish love, your gracious goodness, your wise work, your firm…
You, Lord Jesus, are the King of glory,
the God of goodness,
the Prince of peace,
the Shepherd of supply,
the Lord of Love,
the Light of life
and the Bride-groom of beauty--the beauty reflected in the flowers in the picture below.
You are the Creator of All,
the S…
This entry was written back in about 2015, but the insights are just as valid today as it was then, helping Barbara to come out of her deep depression out into the light of God’s love.
As Barbara and I pass through the valley of the shadow of her depression, we c…
Psalm 24:9 Lift up your heads, O you gates; lift them up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in.”
[The repetition here from verse 7 shows how important it is to open the way for God’s entrance into our lives. And why would anyone not want to open …
Thoughts on Romans 15:13: "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace, as you trust in him, so that your life may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."
Let's look at each aspect of this verse.
"May the God of hope"
[Our God is the source…
Psalm 24:8 “Who is this King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle.”
[This is you, Yahweh, the Holy One: completely other than your creation, totally complete in yourself, needing nothing, being both One and fully self-sufficient as the …
Psalm 33:1-5 “Shout for joy in the LORD, O you righteous! Praise befits the upright.
Give thanks to the LORD with the lyre; make melody to him with the harp of ten strings!
Sing to him a new song; play skillfully on the strings, with loud shouts.
For the word of t…
Something a bit different today: evidence and science over ideology. Learning to think truth.
So part of being filled with the fullness of God is “knowing the love that surpasses knowledge.” In considering what that means, it has come to me that it is experiencing His love; you don’t just know about it intellectually, you see it active in your life.
Tha…
Psalm 24:1 “The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it;”
[To you belong all things, O Lord Yahweh, the Great Creator God. Every square inch of land, every drop of water, every plant, every mineral, every molecule as well as ev…
As we are experiencing a slow motion spring this year, the flowers are coming out slowly, one by one. First are the daffodils. lifting their bright yellow faces to the sky. Then the warm yellow of the forsythia is right behind.
Yesterday while driving, I noticed …
God knows what He is doing. For instance He has many reasons for trials. One of them is this: if we respond with faith, then when Jesus is revealed at the end of time, we will be given praise, honor and glory by God Himself!
That’s a worldview shift--moving us fr…
Continuing from yesterday’s post about giving glory to God.
Another way of revealing Him to others is to share what we are learning as we read, study, memorize and meditate on Scripture. The insights and understandings He brings are far above human thinking and h…
Praise be to you, Lord God, that you were there, waiting for me this morning, after watching over us all night. I praise you for your grace and goodness, your power and provision which you've prepared for me for today.
Thank you so much for the purpose you give u…
Jesus is the perfect Paragon of excellence, the sinless Savior and supreme Shepherd, the marvelous and majestic Maker and Master of our faith. As we read through Psalm 15, every one of the 10 qualities the LORD requires for dwelling in His sanctuary is found in Je…
Further thoughts on Psalm 15:1-5
Jesus is the perfect Paragon of excellence, the sinless Savior and supreme Shepherd, the marvelous and majestic Maker and Master of our faith. As we read through Psalm 15, every one of the 10 qualities the LORD requires for dwelli…
How much does God love us, His children? As it says in Ephesians 1:5+6, “He predestined us for adoption to Himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will, to the praise of His GLORIOUS GRACE, with which He has blessed us in the Beloved.
…Psalm 15:1 "LORD, who may dwell in your sanctuary? Who may live on your holy hill?”
[Praise be to you, Lord God, the High and Holy One, who invites us into your sanctuary, to live with you on your holy hill--through believing on the risen Jesus.
This possibility…
Psalm 14:6 “You evildoers frustrate the plans of the poor, but the LORD is their refuge.”
[Ungodly people prey on the poor instead of praying to God. But when the poor turn to you, Lord, you are their help and protection. You are faithful, you are good and you ar…
Psalm 14:4 “Will evildoers never learn—"
[Lord, this means you are consistently working at teaching all rebels the error of their ways by letting them suffer the consequences of their destructive choices as you, in your faithfulness and love, are calling them to …
Thank you to all who wrote kind comments to us on our blog posts. We do appreciate that. At present Barbara is quite well, as long as we keep her body temperature up with a heating pad!
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Psalm 14:2 “The LORD looks down from heaven on …
The Gift of Beauty
Praise the LORD, for another sunny day with pleasant weather and a beautiful countryside: rich, warm morning sunshine streaming over the hills, casting long, deep shadows from the trees and buildings, bringing out every dip and rise in the land.
…Psalm 146:7 “He upholds the cause of the oppressed...”
[You, Heavenly Father, with the resurrection of Jesus, went right to the core of the issue and provided the most important of our needs: an escape from the three foundational sources of oppression: Satan, sin…
Posted on March 29th, 2024
In the journey of faith, the desire to grow spiritually is inherent to every Christian's heart.
Rooted in Christ, we seek to deepen our relationship with God and mature in our faith.
Here's a comprehensive guide on how to grow spiritu…
Posted on March 29th, 2024
In the midst of life's challenges, depression can weigh heavily on the spirit.
For Christians, navigating this mental health issue requires a blend of faith and practical strategies.
Let's explore how to deal with depression in Christ…
The following was written in 2011 following an unsuccessful attempt to resolve a conflict on one of our teams, a painful event with a sad outcome.
Psalm 34:1 "I will extol the LORD at all times;"
[Even now, in the midst of this painful failure, in darkness and d…
Written in 2017
Lord Jesus, you are the Wonderful One, full of wisdom, grace, righteousness, mercy, justice, goodness and power. You are the One who can overrule in any situation you desire. You could have worked Barbara's serious depression [which she had from 20…
Barbara is out of the hospital and back home! We are so thankful. This progress makes today's devotional very relevant for us!
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Written10 years ago in the midst of Barbara's debilitating illness of chronic Lymes disease and depression, and t…
More from Psalm 107
"Some wandered in desert wastelands,"
[when we reject your truth and go our own way, we dwell in dry and parched lands of our own making, far from the green pastures you have for us.]
"finding no way to a city where they could settle. They w…
Greetings from the hospital room where Barbara is again being treated. The doctors think she has some hidden infection that keeps pulling her down. So, they are going to give her some antibiotics, perhaps long term, to eradicate it. We pray that this will work!
W…
As it says in Psalm 107, "Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever."
[And we do see your love every day, Lord, in the myriad of provisions and protections you pour out upon us. You made us able to see, hear, speak, walk, work and write.
…
When God commands us to do something, it is always for the best. An example is His expression found in Philippians 4:6-7, "Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, WITH THANKSGIVING, present your requests to God. And the pe…
God's Four Gifts to Us through giving thanks, Part Four
A fourth gift He has for us is improving our emotional, mental and physical health. This comes through expressing gratitude to Him as we live out Psalm 50:23 by giving thanks in all things, both positive and…
Update on Barbara. We are settled back in from the hospital. Barbara did well the first day, but then seemed to worsen. Her blood pressure was high and the visiting nurses made some adjustments that seem to help. We are hoping for more improvement in her balance a…
God's Four Gifts to Us, Part Two
As we saw in part one, Psalm 50:23 starts with "He who offers the sacrifice of thanksgiving honors me"--meaning that if we give thanks when we don't feel like it, we fulfill the purpose of our lives, giving honor to God before the…
Giving God glory is the purpose for which we were created. So every time we find ourselves in situations where there is no solution, no discernible good, no visible positive point (as with the zoning board's decision for me this week), we can choose to believe tha…
God's Four Gifts to Us, Part One
What a kindness you have bestowed on us, Lord God, in calling us to give thanks in and for all things. You have a plan, you know what is best, no matter how it may look to us—like a leafless tree in winter--but full of possibiliti…
Greetings.
The Lord is at work answering prayer, proving again the truth of Psalm 50:23: ‘He who offers the sacrifice of thanksgiving honors me and opens the way that I may show him the salvation of the Lord!”
We just came back from the neurologist and he doesn’…
I find it so easy to grumble and complain. Every day there are a multiple opportunities to be discontent, to focus on what I didn’t get instead of looking with the eyes of faith, remembering that my good, heavenly Shepherd is right there, providing, protecting and…
It is good to remember what we were: as it says in Romans 3
"There is no one righteous, not even one;
there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God.
All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not eve…
Answer to prayer: God has given Barbara a very experience and thorough doctor who is determined to get to the bottom of her problems. Spent quite a bit of time with us tonight. Pray that he will be able to find the source of her problems.
The gospel is not just f…
Barbara is back in the hospital, same symptoms as last time including a very low temperature of 90. They’ve got it back up now and will try to find out what’s going on. Prayers appreciated. The following is very applicable for me.
“The LORD is with me; I will not…
Barbara is home from
More thoughts on Psalm 62.
Psalm 62:6 "[The Lord] alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken."
[This is an exact copy of verse 2, a repetition of the truth of where real security is found. Repetition indicates i…
Another update: Barbara is much better, coherent, able to get up and ready to come home. Hopefully tomorrow (Wed) the doctor will release her. Thanks for your prayers.
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Psalm 62: 5 goes on to say, "my hope comes from him."
[Ag…
Update on Barbara, doing much better, after being totally un able to do anything last night, today she is able to eat and actually walked a bit. We may be able to take her home, tomorrow. We are thankful. Again today’s devotional is good for me.
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Update on Barbara. The doctors are doing their job and have found that, in addition to Parkinson’s, her thyroid is not doing well and she has a urinary infection and very low body temperature. In the words of the nurse, “She is very sick!”
They have moved her to …
Today’s devotional is especially appropriate for me as I’ve spent the last two days with Barbara, first in the emergency room and then in the hospital. She really went downhill on Friday, so I decided to take her to the ER in hopes that we could get a neurologist …
Psalm 33:20 "We wait in hope for the LORD;"
[Instead of trying to save ourselves in our feeble strength, it is much wiser to pray and wait for you to act, Lord, and then join you in it.
Sometimes we wait for a long time, but you are faithful and will act at the …
Psalm 33:19 "But the eyes of the LORD are on those who fear him…to deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine."
[Here is the true picture. You, Lord Jesus, are the only One who can deliver us from death. In the greatest way you have delivered us from e…
Psalm 33:19 "But the eyes of the LORD are on those who fear him…to deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine."
King Jehoshaphat demonstrated this for us in 2 Chronicles 20 when he was suddenly confronted by a massive invading army. He chose to fear yo…
Psalm 33:19 "But the eyes of the LORD are on those who fear him…to deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine."
[Here is the true picture. You, Lord Jesus, are the only One who can deliver us from death. In the greatest way you have delivered us from e…
Psalm 33:18 "But the eyes of the LORD are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love,"
[It is wise to choose to fear and reverence You, Lord, rather than people. This means to stand in awe of your wisdom, to care deeply what you think abo…
Psalm 33:17 "A horse is a vain hope for deliverance; despite all its great strength it cannot save."
[In David's days a horse was the strongest weapon available in battle, the most powerful military means, but it was not enough to deliver. The rider needed help f…
Psalm 33:16 "No king is saved by the size of his army; no warrior escapes by his great strength."
[Large armies and great power are not the deciding factor--God is, as shown in many Old Testament stories.
--I think of the huge multinational army that came agains…
[You, Lord, as our Maker have empowered your children to live according to what is right. "By his divine power he has given us all we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him..." (2 Pet. 1:3)]. “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want….” Psalm 23…
Psalm 33:13-14 "From heaven the LORD looks down and sees all mankind; from his dwelling place he watches all who live on earth...."
[The Lord gazes across the universe, over billions of light years, past thousands of galaxies way down to the tiny Milky Way, then …
“…the Spirit helps us in our weakness.” Romans 8:26
It is so good to be weak, to realize that our strength is insufficient so we can say, “O Lord our God…we do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon you” (2 Chron. 20:12b). It is in this weakness that we begin…
Psalm 33:12 “Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people he chose for his inheritance.”
To belong to you, O Holy God, to be adopted by you is undeserved magnificent privilege of grace, a marvelous shift of fortune, a wonderful change of status, an, a …
Psalm 33:12 “Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people he chose for his inheritance.”
[Blessed is really too weak a word for the wonder of being the people of God, being chosen for His inheritance, being part of the universal Church, being included …
Psalm 33:11 "But the plans of the LORD stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations."
[In contrast to us weak humans and to the limited abilities of evil spiritual powers, you are unthwartable, unfoilable, unconquerable, undefeatable, ete…
Psalm 33:8 “Let all the earth fear the LORD;”
[Your might, your power, your dominion, your wisdom and your creation are all reasons to tremble before you, to bow in surrender to the Almighty, All-powerful, All-knowing, All-wise One. You are THE One to be feared, …
Psalm 33:7 “He gathers the waters of the sea into jars;”
[The vast oceans are but a small drop to you, Lord, easily channeled into the place prepared, kept there in store for your plans and the good of all. With it you regulate the climate, provide food, transpor…
“their starry host by the breath of his mouth.” Psalm 33:6b
[You, Lord Jesus, are the Star Breather, exhaling stars great and small, each burning at incredibly high temperatures, giving out light and heat to all around them. Then you ushered them into their prope…
Psalm 33:6 “By the word of the LORD were the heavens made,”
[How powerful you are, Lord, able to create through just speaking. Praise you, Lord Jesus, that you, as the Living Word, created all that there is: “For in him all things were created: things in heaven a…
Psalm 1 is one of my favorites, giving very clear direction on how to be successful as God defines it. It tells what to avoid and what to do, leading to “and whatever he does will prosper.”
What are these directions?
1 Avoid the counsel of the ungodly, including …
Some thoughts from Ray Comfort on prayer
I often hear people say they feel like God isn't listening to their prayers. The reality is He may not be listening! There are certain conditions when we pray. God is omniscient, so of course He hears everything. But scrip…
Psalm 33:4 “For the word of the LORD is right and true;”
[Praise you, Lord God, that your Word is flawlessly correct, fully trustable, totally right and true. Praise you for speaking it, preserving it, presenting it to us so we can read it, study it and memorize …
You, O God, are so kind, so gracious, so giving when we deserve the opposite. You are full of mercy and truth—two seemingly contradictive opposites. Truth would demand punishment, banishment and total rejection of sinners.
Mercy, however, at great cost to you, br…
“Blessed is the man who delights in God’s Word, meditating on it day and night.” Psalm 1.
It never fails to amaze me how the Word can continue to have a keen cutting edge in our lives, even after we’ve gone over and over a passage and it seems to have gotten dull…
Written many years ago:
Psalm 34:1-2. “I will extol the Lord at all times; His praise shall continuallybe on my lips.” [We can always say, “Thank you, Lord God, that in every happening there is potential growth in my focus on you and a platform upon which I can d…
“For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless. O LORD Almighty, blessed is the man who trusts in you.” Psalm 84:11,12
Praise be to you, Lord God Almighty, Commander of th…
Praise is a great privilege, and a great responsibility. To praise in and for all things is expressing faith in a God who controls everything for our good and His glory.
Praise is certainly the gateway to surrender and freedom in Christ. Such praise comes by the …
Psalm 32:7b “surely when the mighty waters rise, they will not reach him.”
[This danger is not an “if” but a “when.” Floods of trouble will come, but you will set us high upon a rock and keep us safe. “God is our refuge and strength…. Therefore we will not fear, …
Psalm 86:15 “…you, O Lord, are…slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.”
You are slow to anger. You are deeply, graciously, perfectly patient and therefore persistent in our relationship. I so often fail, especially in my thought life and in my motives,…
I praise you, Lord God, for the beauty of your Character as shown in Psalm 86:15 “…you, O Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.”
You lean over the side of Heaven and in compassion follow carefully every asp…
“surely when the mighty waters rise, they will not reach him.”
[This danger is not an “if” but a “when.” Floods of trouble will come, but you will set us high upon a rock and keep us safe. “God is our refuge and strength…. Therefore we will not fear, though the e…
Psalm 32:5b-6 “you forgave the guilt of my sin…Therefore let everyone who is godly pray to you while you may be found;”
[In every situation, this is what we have the privilege of doing: running to you in prayer, Lord, seeking you and your help. Prayer is not our l…
Ephesians 1:4 “..chosen before the foundation of the world to holy and without blame before you in love."
Lord Jesus, my wonder at you grows as I consider what I am in myself: selfish, proud, weak, unstable, lustful, lazy, impatient, unbelieving and rebellious, t…
I praise you, my Heavenly Father, for your steadfast, unwavering love and goodness. I am so much the opposite: my emotions are up and down; my sense of achievement and worth waver; my happiness with myself fluctuates with what I perceive to be success or failure: …
Psalm 32:3,4 “When I kept silent, [not confessing, not acknowledging my sin] my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; [this is your love, moving us towards repentance.] my strength was sapped as in the h…
Psalm 32:2 “Blessed is the man whose sin the LORD does not count against him and in whose spirit is no deceit.”
[Lord Jesus, I praise you that you not only erased my guilt, taking it upon yourself, but that you consistently work in me to bring transparency, makin…
Of David. A maskil.
Psalm 32
“Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered.”
[Praise you, Lord God, the Great and Holy One, that you have provided forgiveness for my many sins, wiping clean the record of my multitude of transgressions, …
Psalm 31:24 “Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the LORD.”
[When our hope is in you, the Time Starter, the Star-breather, the Dawn-bringer, the History Ender, we can be strong and encouraged, for you, Lord God, are powerful and good and wise and it is …
Psalm 31:23 “Love the LORD, all his saints! The LORD preserves the faithful,”
[There are an infinite number of reasons to love you, LORD Yahweh! Not the least of which is your faithfulness to your Word, to your promises, to your Character, to your love. We can be…
Psalm 31:22 “In my alarm I said, ‘I am cut off from your sight!’ Yet you heard my cry for mercy when I called to you for help.”
[What seems to be an impossible situation for us is changed when we remember that you are there, Lord, that you are acting behind the s…
I have a friend who is a believer, but he complains about anything he doesn’t like. In fact, he scoffs at the idea of offering the sacrifice of thanksgiving, which, according to Psalm 50:23, honors God.
We have been reading through Exodus and Numbers and, in relati…
Psalm 31:21 “Praise be to the LORD, for he showed his wonderful love to me when I was in a besieged city.”
[More than once David was trapped in a city by his enemies (1 Sam. 23:7-13), but each time, in the midst of David’s danger, you, Lord, defended him, you act…
Psalm 31:20 “In the shelter of your presence you hide them from the intrigues of men; in your dwelling you keep them safe from accusing tongues.”
[To others we may appear to be defenseless and totally vulnerable, but in your unseen presence we are sheltered and s…
Psalm 31:19 “How great is your goodness, which you have stored up for those who fear you,”
You, O Lord, know the future and all that will come; you know what is needed for us to stand, and have prepared a rich supply of grace for us. Your one requirement is that …
Psalm 31:17b,18 “but let the wicked be put to shame and lie silent in the grave. Let their lying lips be silenced, for with pride and contempt they speak arrogantly against the righteous.”
[There are so many lies and false accusations uttered these days against fo…
This was written more than ten years ago.
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Psalm 31:17 “Let me not be put to shame, O LORD, for I have cried out to you;”
[You, O Lord, desire honor for us, not shame: "As God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved," "...my salvation and…
A very different type of post today, but an important one, bringing common sense and science together, a breath of fresh air! From The Epoch Times Climate Scientists Say We Should Embrace Higher CO2 Levels
While governments pour billions of dollars into lowering C…
Psalm 31:15b-16, “deliver me from my enemies and from those who pursue me. Let your face shine on your servant; save me in your unfailing love.”
[David unwaveringly looks to the right place, to the right One for help, and for the right reason: God's unfailing lov…
Psalm 31:15 “My times are in your hands;”
[A strong declaration of God’s great powers, of His sovereignty at work--and of our weakness. We cannot control our times, our lives or the events that come into them. But, God actively, intimately and lovingly works to b…
In our daily reading we came to John 8 and verse 32: “You shall know the truth and the truth will set you free.”
As I thought about this, I realized that the Truth sets us free as a process. In my own life I can see important steps in this as He led me out into p…
Psalm 31:14 “I say, ‘You are my God.’”
David here affirms that the Lord is his God, his final authority. This is looking away from the seen to the unseen. It is a declaration that Jesus is David's final authority and David is going to trust Him and obey Him, not…
Psalm 31:9 “Be merciful to me, O LORD, for I am in distress;”
[You, Lord, are the One I should flee to immediately when anxiety and fear, worry and distress strike, for you alone have the power to do something about it.
You are mighty and merciful , you are graci…
Psalm 31:8 “You have not handed me over to the enemy but have set my feet in a spacious place.”
[Praise you, Lord Jesus, my Savior, my Redeemer, my Protector and Guide, for you brought me out of the prison of sin and self into a spacious place of love, joy and pe…
Psalm 31:7 “I will be glad and rejoice in your love,”
[Your love alone is enough for joy, O God. You, heavenly Father, showed your love in sending the Savior into this violent, deadly world; you, Lord Jesus, showed your love in suffering immeasurably to save your…
Psalm 31:6 “I hate those who cling to worthless idols;”
[How about us? how often do I cling to some worthless idol—which is anything I demand to be happy, anything I put ahead of seeking your will and submitting to it. It can be something as simple as wanting a b…
Psalm 31:5 “Into your hands I commit my spirit;”
[These were the words of David in difficulty, and the words of Christ on the cross; they should also be the daily words of every one of us believers.
As we commit our spirit to you, Lord Jesus, we are surrendering…
Psalm 31:2 “be my rock of refuge, a strong fortress to save me.”
[Praise you, O Lord God, that you are consistently with us: you have made yourself our Refuge by redeeming, adopting and embracing us.
You have made yourself our Rock of stability in a world of unc…
You are sparkling in your purity, Lord Jesus, generous in your grace, marvelous in your majesty, great in your goodness, overwhelming in your wisdom and dazzling in your greatness.
To delight in you is to enter into a fuller reality, to let the shadows of our nat…
"...delight yourself also in the Lord...." Psalm 37:4
I want to delight in you, Lord Jesus--you who were on earth simultaneously while being both entirely God and entirely man—both finite and fully infinite.
You were the Creator and the carpenter.
You were the s…
Last night in our Christmas Eve service this verse was read:
Isaiah 9:6, “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
I …
God is an inveterate gift giver. He loves to pour out goodness on His children and Christmas is a good time to remember that.
One of the gifts He’s given us through Christ is the privilege of personal worship and the powerful positives that flow from it. Such wor…
Christmas was not only a time of new beginnings, Christmas changed everything!
Christmas meant that God no longer dwelt only in the temple, He dwelt with man as Immanuel.
Christmas meant that God no longer only spoke through men, He now spoke directly to us.
Christm…
Some more thoughts on this season.
Christmas is a time of new beginnings.
It was the beginning of the next step in the great plan of redemption, foretold for thousands of years.
It was the beginning of John the Baptist
It was the beginning of Joseph and Mary’s lif…
Christmas, a time of obedience. Here is the third and fourth example of people submitting to God, obeying what He had to say in spite of all the forces of tradition, culture and fear of man, and thereby playing significant roles in the great plan of salvation.
Fi…
Continuing with the Christmas theme: Obedience
Christ left all, embraced the very hard and unpleasant, obeying to the end.
Then there is Mary, an unsuspecting teen-aged girl. I think she was happy to be engaged to a fine man like Joseph. And like most girls she …
As we approach Christmas, I’ve been thinking about its multifaceted meaning.
One important part of the message of Christmas is obedience.
There are four power examples for us, today we will look at one.
First is Jesus himself. Think about who He was
Col 1:15 The Son…
Psalm 31:2 “Turn your ear to me,”
[Thank you, Lord Jesus that you listen to us intently, that you have opened the way for us to cry to the Father and that our prayers are consistently heard. Praise you that you are the One who thought up prayer, who hears prayer …
Want a Christmas gift that keeps on giving all year long? Here’s one that will give to you every day:
EDIFIED! 365 DAILY DEVOTIONALS.
This book will stimulate your worship and spark an inner transformation in your life.
One reader’s comment: “What a great devotiona…
You, Lord Jesus, are Marvelous in your personality, Majestic in your judgments, Mighty in your redemption and Magnificent in your mercy.
To you belongs all affection, all loyalty, all commitment, all awe, all reverence, all obedience, all honor--for in you there …
Praise you, Lord, for your undeserved goodness, poured on upon us daily, manifested in multiple ways, like giving us the gifts of sight, speech, hearing, smell, taste, and touch, things we take for granted, but miss much if we lose them.
Then there are the major,…
An example of "lifting my soul to God," written in my worship journal several years ago.
Lord, I praise you this morning for your gracious and good presence: while I slept, you watched over me; when I awoke, you were there. Praise you that we can trust you to car…
First, thank you for your prayers, the procedure went well and my heart is back in rhythm.
Psalm 30:11 “You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,”
[You answered David, you brought him through the dark, cold valley like…
Tomorrow, Wednesday, I have an outpatient event, stopping and restarting my heart to stop my A-fib. Prayers would be appreciated.
Psalm 30:9 “What gain is there in my destruction, in my going down into the pit? Will the dust praise you? Will it proclaim your fait…
Yesterday I wrote this:
Psalm 30:8 “To you, O LORD, I called; to the Lord I cried for mercy:”
[This is the proper response in difficulty,
to seek you and your mercy,
to recognize my weakness and your strength,
to trust you, not myself.]
And tonight we are in th…
Psalm 30:8 “To you, O LORD, I called; to the Lord I cried for mercy:”
[This is the proper response in difficulty,
to seek you and your mercy,
to recognize my weakness and your strength,
to trust you, not myself.
I praise you, Lord God, for your goodness and grac…
Psalm 30:6,7 “When I felt secure, I said, ‘I will never be shaken.’ O LORD, when you favored me, you made my mountain stand firm;”
[When we are in a positive situation, when we feel safe and see your blessings, it is easy to feel firm and stable. Such times are i…
You, Lord Jesus, are my serene Security, my superb Stability, my unshakable Surety, my supreme Savior. With all that swirls around us in life, we could not make it without you as our firm Foundation, our strong Anchor, our great Shepherd, our powerful King.
Prais…
Sorry I didn’t post yesterday. Got caught up in finishing the setup of my next book, Canterbury CT Characters of the 21stCentury, Volume 2.
When I brought the first of the new supply to our local grocery store for selling, the manager was happy to see them. “The …
The Lord had a message for me today, “Do you really believe what you’ve written about recently. You know, having an attitude of gratitude?”
Today was one challenging day.
Yesterday, after uploading my new book, Canterbury CT Characters of the 21st Century, Volume …
Psalm 34:4b “weeping may remain for a night,”
[You do take us through loss, disappointment, difficulty and heartbreak, but for good and wise reasons. Some of them are to mature us, to shape us, to deepen us that we may be more useful for you, share more in your g…
Some spontaneous thoughts this evening.
Tonight we listened to a talk on happiness. The speaker made a strong statement: without gratitude you cannot have happiness. He went on to add that gratitude is the source of both happiness and goodness.
I believe this is…
Psalm 30:4 “Sing to the LORD, you saints of his; praise his holy name.”
[YES! This must be our response to you, Lord, singing and praising you for your marvelous character, which is displayed in your holy name, Yahweh. You are sinless, separate, and strong; you a…
Psalm 30:3 “O LORD, you brought me up from the grave; you spared me from going down into the pit.”
[You can heal when all hope is lost, you can restore when no possibility remains, you can give life when death is imminent. I praise you for your grace in preservin…
Psalm 30:2 “O LORD my God, I called to you for help and you healed me.” (This for me is quite relevant as I was again in the ER today with painful plumbing problems! But because God came to my help, I could go home after a few hours. )
[You, O Triune God, are re…
I praise you that as I commit my way to you and trust also in you, you will bring the best to pass, you will bring forth the righteousness you’ve given me as the light and my judgment in your forgiveness as the noon day sun (Ps. 37).
I praise you that you give us…
Psalm 30:1b You “did not let my enemies gloat over me.”
[I praise you, Lord Jesus, that you do not want my enemies--primarily Satan and his forces--to gloat over me, so you are consistently at work to deliver me at the right moment.
You will, at times, allow me t…
More thoughts on “I will exalt you, O LORD, for you lifted me out of the depths….”
You are worthy of praise for bringing us out from the shadow of sin into the light of your love,
into the warmth of your delight, the acceptance of your grace and the wonder of yo…
Psalm 30:1 A song. For the dedication of the temple. Of David.
“I will exalt you, O LORD, for you lifted me out of the depths….”
You, O Triune God, have lifted us out of the deep depths of the dominion of darkness where despair, depression and discouragement dom…
Update, they let me out of the hospital today and I am home, hopefully healed. No surgery, thank God!
Being in the hospital overnight is always an exhausting experience, but there are opportunities to share nuggets of truth, to encourage someone and pass on one o…
In the night I woke up with a pain (I will spare you the gruesome details). I tried everything I could think of, but nothing worked. So I knew I had to go to the emergency room, but waited a bit to see if the problem resolved itself, as it has done in the past. N…
Some thoughts for Thanksgiving.
What is the purpose of our life?
To glorify God, to honor Him.
And how do we do that?
By Faith (without faith we cannot please God).
Practically speaking what does that mean?
Psalm 50:23 “He who offers the sacrifice of thanksgivin…
Psalm 16:5 “LORD, you have assigned me my portion and my cup;”
[All I have comes from you, O Holy God:
my position,
my provision,
my protection,
my portion.
And what you give is good. This includes
my body,
my brains,
my boundaries,
my bonds,
my bounty;
whatever …
You, Lord God, have made us new creations in Christ, welcomed with joy into your presence where we are delighted in, rejoiced over, cherished and treasured. In you we can rest securely, knowing that you have accepted us fully, finally, faithfully. In you alone we …
Praise be to you, Lord God, for your kind and consistent, detailed and direct involvement in our lives. I exalt you, Lord, for how you are so persistent in pouring pardon into our lives, giving us the opposite of what we deserve.
Thank you for your patience with …
Last night when I went to give a discipleship lesson, the couple had just gotten a new little dog. He’d been suddenly taken from his familiar environment where he’d lived all his 3 years and was feeling very unsure and insecure in this new situation. For some reas…
Praise be to you, Lord, for how faithful and good, wise and powerful you are. We see this in the expanse of the heavens, which you stretched out for billions of light years—each light year being 513 trillion miles! You filled it with stars, (Psalm 33:6) gathered t…
Today is a bit different devotional. I don’t think I’ve mentioned this before, that, as one teacher told me, there are two kinds of people on earth: the YOLOs and YLFs.
The YOLO are those who operate by the philosophy of “You Only Live Once,” so live it up. Enter…
Thank you so much, Lord, for the purpose you give us in life: which means revealing you to those around us. And how can we do that?
One way of revealing Yo to others is to share what we are learning as we read, study, memorize and meditate on Scripture. The insig…
Praise be to you, Lord God, that you were there, waiting for me this morning, after watching over us all night. I praise you for your grace and goodness, your power and provision which you've prepared for me for today.
Thank you so much, Lord, for the purpose you…
Written on the first day of my retirement in 2015
My retirement coincides with my turning 70 this year. In the past, I’ve found that decadal milestones often bring changes in focus and responsibilities. I expect this to be a bigger one than previous “big O” years. …
Further thoughts on Psalm 15:1-5. This passage is so rich it deserves another look.
Jesus is the perfect Paragon of excellence, the sinless Savior and supreme Shepherd, the marvelous and majestic Maker and Master of our faith. As we read through Psalm 15, every q…
You, Heavenly Father, have imputed the characteristics of Christ to us and have made us, desperate, wicked sinners, qualified to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the Kingdom of light! This is against all logic, all normal justice, all human reason…
Psalm 15:1 "LORD, who may dwell in your sanctuary? Who may live on your holy hill?”
[Praise be to you, Lord God, the High and Holy One, who invites us into your sanctuary, to live with you on your holy hill--through believing on the risen Jesus.
This possibility…
Psalm 14:6 “You evildoers frustrate the plans of the poor, but the LORD is their refuge.”
[Ungodly people prey on the poor instead of praying to God. But, when the poor turn to you, Lord, you are their help and protection. You are faithful, you are good and you a…
Psalm 14:4 “Will evildoers never learn—"
[Lord, this means you are consistently working at teaching all rebels the error of their ways by letting them suffer the consequences of their destructive choices. In your faithfulness and love You are calling them to repe…
Psalm 14:2b “The LORD looks down from heaven on the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God.”
[This means, Lord, that you look into the heart of every single person, you weigh their thoughts, you are concerned for them. Only an infini…
Psalm 14:1 “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’”
[This is a clear definition of a fool: one with no spiritual discernment or interest, who rejects truth in favor of his own unfounded opinion.
The statement “there is no God” is so far from reality, so …
The Gift of God's Faithfulness
Psalm 13:3 “Look on me and answer, O LORD my God. Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death;”
[Thank you that we can cry to you in our desperation, as David did here, Lord. We can always appeal to you, knowing that your faith…
Psalm 13:2 “How long will my enemy triumph over me?”
[At times the enemy does triumph over us—evil leaders arise in nations (such as ISIS), bad decisions are made by government or mission leaders, churches fall apart, families dissolve in bitterness, hard-working…
Psalm 13:1,2 “How long, O LORD?”
[There will be times when God seems distant, when He is not answering our prayers on our timetable (like right now in my life), when things are going awry with no help in sight. We pray and wait, but nothing seems to happen. There…
Psalm 12:7 “O LORD, you will keep us safe and protect us from such people [oppressors and liars] forever.”
[Praise you for this certainty, Lord, both now and in eternity. And a major means of protecting us is your Word as you warn us, guide us and set us free of …
The Gift of God's Flawless Word
Psalm 12:6 “And the words of the LORD are flawless, like silver refined in a furnace of clay, purified seven times.”
[Praise you, Lord God, the King of Glory, the Creator of only good, for you are Truth itself. Therefore, your wor…
Psalm 12:5 “’Because of the oppression of the weak and the groaning of the needy, I will now arise,’ says the LORD. ‘I will protect them from those who malign them.’”
[Praise you, Lord, that you are the God of justice, that you will, at the right time, rise up to…
The Gift of Truth
Psalm 12:1 “Help, LORD, for the godly are no more; the faithful have vanished from among men.”
[In spite of how it appears, I praise you, Lord, that you have always reserved for yourself some who are righteous in Christ
.
You are quietly at wor…
Psalm 146:9 “The LORD watches over the alien and sustains the fatherless and the widow,”
[You, O Lord, not only see, but act on behalf those who are weak, those whom men are so willing to plunder. You protect, provide, and guide the vulnerable, the hurting, the…
“the LORD lifts up those who are bowed down,”
[You, Lord, in your tender love, reach out to all those who are depressed, discouraged and disheartened by the burdens by life as Satan, along with sin and its consequences, beat them up, beat them down, bring them lo…
The Gift of Freedom
Psalm 146:7b “The LORD sets prisoners free....”
[Right from the beginning of our lives we are all imprisoned by sin in the web of Satan, where everyone is ensnared in his sticky strands of lies, fear and violence. Just being born into a broken…
Greetings! Last night I got home too late to do a post. Sorry.
Tonight I want to do something a little different. I’ve been thinking about the Trinity, God being one God and three persons at the same time, and the evidence for it in Scripture. This list is by no …
Greetings! Today I will begin with two prayer requests.
- We have a relative approaching death; to our knowledge he has never accepted Christ; pray that he will come to Christ before passing.
- This weekend I have three speaking engagements; pray that Go…
Praise be to you, Lord, for your great and gracious heart. Praise you that you look down and see every single person on this earth, all at the same time, and that you are aware of each one’s needs, motives, desires, suffering, rebellion and anger.
I praise you th…
Psalm 146:6b “The Lord who remains faithful forever.”
[You, Lord, are the persistent God of Hope, forever pouring joy and peace into our lives as we trust in you (Rom. 15:13)--so that our lives may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit and that we ma…
Psalm 146:6 “Blessed is the man whose hope is the maker of heaven”
[You made both the throne room of Heaven where you dwell, and the great expanses of space where all the starry hosts dwell: zillions of stars (and you know the name of every one!) placed in trilli…
Psalm 11:7b “His countenance beholds the upright.”
[You, Lord, in your love and goodness, consistently look after us, your children--we who now stand in the righteousness of Christ. You are aware of every event that comes to us, you filter out what is truly evil …
Psalm 11:7 “For the Lord is righteous, He loves righteousness;”
[Praise you, Lord God, that in you there is no evil, no darkness, no sin, no wrongdoing. You are righteous and love what is right. You cannot be corrupted and corrupt no one. You cannot be tempted, a…
Psalm 11:5b “But the wicked and the one who loves violence, His [God’s] soul hates."
[Here is one of those seeming paradoxes of the Bible: God loves all yet hates the wicked. Here are three possible understandings among several, all of them true:
--He hates what …
Psalm 11:4-5 “The Lord is in His holy temple, The Lord's throne is in heaven;”
[You are ever ruling, ever awake, ever alert. Nothing escapes your notice, and you always act in inexorable power at exactly the right time.
You rule wisely, wonderfully, willfully. Y…
Your eyes, Lord Jesus, are both fiery and forgiving; your heart is both loving and firm. Yours acts of righteous grace cause mercy to triumph over justice; your thoughts are incredible, returning only good for the evil we have done.
You are consistently, faithful…
Lord Jesus,
my God and Lord,
my King and Master,
my Savior and Shepherd,
you have undeservedly set us, your illogically adopted children,
in such a wide and wonderful place,
in a positive position of light and love,
of grace and goodness,
of beauty and brightness,
…Psalm 11:2 “For look! The wicked bend their bow, they make ready their arrow on the string, that they may shoot secretly at the upright in heart.”
[If I fly to temporal help, I make myself vulnerable to attacks of the enemy. If I set my heart on a desired solutio…
Psalm 11:1 “In the Lord I put my trust;”
What an appropriate message for me as when I wrote this in bed I was down with a severe bout of vertigo, unable to be up, having to cancel all my plans--an opportunity to join God in His plans!
[Yes, Lord, I willfully choo…
I praise you, Lord Jesus, that in your mercy you bring positive pressure on us to see truth, to come to ourselves and surrender to you. You are the One we can trust, the One who is our refuge and strength, our joy and wisdom, our Loving Shepherd and Warrior King.
…Thank you, Lord God, that all which will come to us today will come from your hand.
Praise be to you, Lord Jesus, for your wonderful wisdom, working consistently and graciously in the lives of your children, bringing guidance and goodness, problems and protection.
…Psalm 23:6 “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life;”
[You, Lord, constantly pour out goodness and mercy on your children; it is a certainty that in each situation you are providing these in our lives. Very often we cannot see them at th…
“My cup runs over.” Psalm 23:5c
[You, Lord, give us what we need--and far more. What I actually need is only air, water, food, clothing, shelter and love. But when I look at all you have given me, it is way beyond that, much more than what I need spiritually, int…
Psalm 23: 5b, “You anoint my head with oil;”
[Shepherds put oil on the heads of their sheep to keep away pesky insects, to heal wounds, to refresh and so when the sheep butt heads, they will slide by and not be badly injured.
Oil here can represent many things: …
“I will fear no evil for You are with me….” Psalm 23:4b
You, Lord God, are ever present, ever with us, your little lambs. If there is evil threatening, enemies approaching, you are there, watching, providing, protecting in whatever way you deem best.
Often, we a…
As we take refuge in His love, power and truth, God does not always protect us from what will harm us physically, but will protect us from what would harm us spiritually. Then we can shine in the darkness of this world as a burning fire (like this picture) for tho…
Psalm 23:4 “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil;”
[At least one of the paths of righteousness you will lead me on, Lord, goes through this dark valley. It may be a time of dying to a desire, to my will, to a possessio…
You, Lord Jesus, promise to lead me in paths of righteousness for your name’s sake—but again, I must choose to follow. And I can be sure that the way you lead me will be righteous and upright, pure and positive, godly and good, bringing honor to your Name.
If I s…
As my “Psalm 23 Shepherd,” Lord Jesus, you lead me beside the still waters, like the picture here—you give me opportunity to be with you, to take in, to gain eternal perspective.
You lead, but I must both follow, and then drink. I must choose to spend time in you…
As our great Shepherd, Lord Jesus, You have made a total commitment to our good: patiently and persistently prodding, providing and protecting us. You do this even though we daily grieve you with our rebellious love for sin, our stubborn selfishness and our unholy…
Psalm 23:1 “The LORD is my shepherd”
[Five short words that hold infinite grace. You, Lord God, the Holy, Pure and Triune Creator, utterly other, totally Just and the Punisher of sin--decisively and wholeheartedly chose to make yourself the Shepherd of rebels.
W…
Psalm 22:30 “Posterity will serve him;”
[There will always be an ongoing line of believers, sustained and guided by you, no matter what the era may be--just as there were in the Dark Ages, in the Middle ages, in the Enlightenment, in modern times, in postmodernis…
Psalm 22:29 “All the rich of the earth will feast and worship; all who go down to the dust will kneel before him—those who cannot keep themselves alive.”
[No one can keep himself from dying, none of us can defeat old age. And no one can avoid the judgment: all hu…
Philosophical Evidence
The Bible has ways of solving philosophical problems that no other philosophy or religion has been able to do.
For instance, if God is love, then he needs something to love. But if he needs what he has created so he can love someone, then h…
Part 3: evidence of the Bible’s validity
Archeological Evidence
In all that I read, both in the work of secular and religious archeologists, in the end all the evidence points to the Bible being accurate and true. Here are some examples taken from the website http…
Part 2 of evidence for the validity of the Bible. Today’s is a bit longer, cos there’s lots of prophetic evidence!
Prophetic Evidence
There is a plethora of prophecies in the Bible that have been fulfilled. One good website for further reading about this is http:/…
Today begins a short new series.
Before I committed my life to Christ I wanted to be sure that what I believed was true. So, I collected evidence for the for the validity of the Bible and belief in Jesus Christ.
This is divided into six categories (historical, p…
Psalm 22:28 “and all the families of the nations will bow down before him, for dominion belongs to the LORD and he rules over the nations.”
[You, Lord God, are the Sovereign One who reigns and rules;
you have control,
you use all for good,
you make your major pla…
Psalm 22:27 “All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the LORD,"
Praise you for your love for every single person, for providing salvation for all, for convicting each of sin, of righteousness and the judgment to come. You do this so that they might se…
This week as I was preparing to do a repair job on some asphalt, a man came walking by and asked me what I was doing. I explained the project to him and he said, “I can do that for you for this much.” Wow, that was less than the supplies I needed for the project…
Psalm 22:26 “The poor will eat and be satisfied;”
[You, Lord, are the Provider of all the physical needs of the world. You remember the needy and weak, being "A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows.” You “set the lonely in families and lead out the pris…
I praise you, Lord Jesus, for your unending presence; you are everywhere at the same time (here on earth, behind the moon, on the other side of the universe and in Heaven). In another way, you are especially near to those who seek you, those whose hearts are open …
A clear and sunny day here on the farm in CT with early morning fog rising off the pond. Praise be to you, Lord God, Creator of all the beauty before us, beauty which shows us your great heart of love. You share all the reflected glory of your Being through your c…
Psalm 22:24 “For he has not despised or disdained the suffering of the afflicted one;
[You, Father, planned Jesus’ suffering, knowing that it was necessary for Him to be the perfect Savior: "Because [Jesus] himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help…
The Difference Context Makes:
Wow! To live with you, to live for you, to be your child, your ambassador, your herald, your workman, your messenger, your servant, your partner in work, your fellow heir, your brother, and in the end, your bride—what great and marve…
“‘To whom will you compare me? Or who is my equal?’ says the Holy One. Lift your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one, and calls them each by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not on…
The last installment from my autbio, finishing the catalogue of how God has set me free
You have set me free from “junk stress”, showing me where I set my heart on tiny, insignificant things and then live in fear about whether I’ll get them or not.
You have set me…
Psalm 22:22 “I will declare your name to my brothers; in the congregation I will praise you.”
[You, Heavenly Father, are the prayer-answering, soul-saving, wisdom-giving, infinitely powerful, all-good God, worthy of praise. You are Yahweh, Elohim and Adonai, the …
Another aspect of God’s character: He knows everything that has happened and will happen.
There has been a long debate about the “elect” with some saying that God determines who these are without them having any part in this. However, since we know that God wants …
Here from my recent studies is another wonderful Truth about God.
Not only does He want all to be saved,
But He also works in the life of everyone to call them to salvation. Here are the three ways He does this:
- He reveals Himself through the creation.
Rom 1:19 F…
- Lately I’ve been moved to remind myself of the major Truths of salvation, and I will share several of those with you, that is verses that speak to each aspect of the subject.
The first one is that Jesus died for all: What a powerful testimony of God’s love, both f…
Today we have high worship: giving God honor for who He is without thinking much on how that benefits me.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
You are our marvelous Master, our good God, faithful Father, loving Lord, and supreme Shepherd. You are far better than any god w…
Praise you, Lord God, that in your gracious goodness, you unfailingly guide and direct, provide for and protect us. Praise you for the completeness of your character, the perfection of your personality, the graciousness of your goodness, and the firmness of your f…
Another ending section from my autobio—the continued description of how God is setting me free.
You, Lord God, are showing me your inexorable power and inviting me to join you in your work.
You have set me free from working hard so I can work smart.
You are lead…
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty Christian, Part 3
A continuation of how one man keeps on and uses the armor of Ephesians 6:10-18
On the way home from work Walter sat quietly on the train looking out the window, polishing his sword by meditating on the passage he…
Walter Mitty Christian, Spiritual Warfare Part 2.
After quenching the flaming arrow of self-pity with his shield of faith, no other attacks came, so Walter went back to his coding.
And the rest of the morning went well, but later in the afternoon, there came anot…
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty Christian, Part 1 The story of how one man keeps on and uses the armor of Ephesians 6:10-18
Walter ran up the last few steps and walked swiftly to the door. He didn’t want to be late for work and unnecessarily bring any negative at…
Psalm 22:20, 21“Deliver my life from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dogs. Rescue me from the mouth of the lions; save me from the horns of the wild oxen.”
[You did just that for Jesus, saving Him from the power of death, the devil and destructi…
Psalm 22:19 “But you, O LORD, be not far off;”
[You, Heavenly Father, only turned away from Jesus as long as was necessary; when His suffering was complete, you turned back and raised Him from the dead, gloriously defeating all your foes.
And because you, Lord J…
You, Lord Jesus, knew from before creation that you would have to suffer these things in order to redeem the universe.
As it says in 1 Timothy 2:9 He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and…
This is the next to the last post from the body of my autobiography. It is a summary of what the Lord has done in my life over the years, bringing a greater and greater freedom.
Psalm 119:30,32 says, “I have chosen the way of truth; I have set my heart on your la…
This next section of Psalm 22 is a series of amazing prophetic declarations, describing what would happen to Jesus 1000 years after it was written; it details the happenings of a crucifixion long before that cruel method of execution was devised. Truly God knows a…
The Love of the Lord endures forever.
I praise you for the great love you have for us, Lord Jesus, leading you to work so patiently, so graciously, so faithfully, so persistently, even when I tend to focus elsewhere on the trinkets and trash of earth, on selfishn…
As you lead me into worship each day, Lord Jesus, there is a definite sense of solidification within, a strengthening in my inner being, for you are "strengthening me with strength in my soul" (Psa. 136:8). I am more at rest in you; my confidence is shifting from …
“Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him and He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light and your judgement as the noon day sun.” Ps 37:3.
This promise came to pass today for us. The disruptive (understatement) renter we are in the process of evic…
Psalm 22:11 “Do not be far from me, for trouble is near and there is no one to help.”
[David had only you to turn to, Lord, his great God and good Shepherd. Only you could help Jesus in His earthly life. And so it is in our lives: in the midst of powerful forces …
Psalm 22:11 “Do not be far from me, for trouble is near and there is no one to help.”
This verse is especially appropriate to me right now because of the upcoming contentious trial (Wed. the 23rd) with my unhappy, angry, vengeful renter who is busy trying to sla…
During those 3 ½ years in Germany, the Lord has faithfully continued this upward trend of my life, bringing me into ever new and more radiant levels of relationship with Him.
This ongoing growth flows, like all the other changes God has wrought in me, out of med…
Psalm 22:6,9 “I am…scorned by men and despised by the people…Yet you brought me out of the womb; you made me trust in you even at my mother’s breast.”
[You, Lord God, were with both David and Jesus in their physical conception, preparing the way to give them prot…
We praise you, Lord God, that your ways are higher than our ways. You truly see the big picture and will work things out in your perfect understanding, timing and wisdom.
We can only see to the next corner and that’s it; see from now to eternity, you know every b…
Psalm 22:6 “But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by men and despised by the people.”
[Here David experiences powerlessness in rejection by those around him and turns to God for support. This foreshadows what Jesus experienced 1000 years later in a much greater …
More on God’s method: partnership.
You give input on what to embrace or avoid; we must pay attention and follow your lead. “The commands of the LORD are radiant, giving light to the eyes…. By them is your servant warned; in KEEPING THEM there is great reward.” Ps…
A Meditation on God's Method
“He [God] is a shield to all those WHO TAKE REFUGE in him” (Ps 18:30) This verse is a clear statement of God’s desired way with us: partnership.
You, Lord, prepare all and then wait for us to respond. In this process, you alert us, c…
You, O Triune God, are our unfailing Rock, our unassailable Fortress, our undefeatable Deliverer. When the darkness closes in, when pain and sickness come, when disappointment dominates and failure flows, you are there, making sure we have enough grace, that we ca…
As we draw closer to God, the trajectory of our spiritual life starts to rise. And my life story tells you where it goes: upward and onward with Him into ever-increasing freedom, joy and usefulness. During those years in Germany, the Lord has faithfully continued…
Psalm 22:4 "In you our fathers put their trust;
[Throughout the history of Israel, Abraham and Moses, Job and Joseph, David and Daniel, and many others trusted you in the midst of their trials, challenges and suffering.]
“they trusted and you delivered them.”
P…
Psalm 22:4 "In you our fathers put their trust;”
[Throughout the history of Israel Abraham and Moses, Job and Joseph, David and Daniel, and many others trusted you in the midst of their trials, challenges and suffering.]
“they trusted and you delivered them.”
[…
Psalm 22:3 “Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One;”
[David here reminds himself--and you, Lord--of who you are, the Perfect Presider, the Supreme Shepherd, the Righteous Ruler, the Glorious Guide, the Ever-faithful Father. The first thing we should do when we fee…
Psalm 22:1b “Why are you so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groaning?’
[This is how David felt: he received no immediate answer to his prayer, had no sense of God’s presence, no visible support, no help, no guidance. For David, this was a feeling,…
I think about what it was like before God brought me to surrender in Himself. I lived in the land of death where the devil had reign and destruction was growing in my life. As it says in Psalm 18:4-6,“The cords of death entangled me; the torrents of destruction ov…
[Psalm 22. Praise be to you, O Triune God, for your rich and revealing Word. Here we have another prophetic, Messianic Psalm, written 1000 years before your coming into the world, foretelling your suffering both on our behalf and for your glory.
Praise you for yo…
Chapter 89 Epilogue: He Sets Prisoners Free
One day in Germany Barbara said to me, “You certainly are easier to live with NOW than you used to be!” “That’s because of my ongoing revival,” I said.
That little conversation made me think more about what the Lord w…
[You, Lord, will triumph, overcome all evil and win, destroying all that is against truth, against goodness against you. “There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the Lord” (Prov. 21:30). “The Lord foils the plans of the nations and thwarts…
[You, Lord, will triumph, overcome all evil and win, destroying all that is against truth, against goodness against you. “There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the Lord” (Prov. 21:30). “The Lord foils the plans of the nations and thwarts…
Psalm 21:8 “Your hand will lay hold on all your enemies; your right hand will seize your foes.”
[You, Lord God, did just that in the resurrection of Christ, defeating the devil, death, and destruction. And you will continue to act in righteous justice against tho…
Psalm 21:8 “Your hand will lay hold on all your enemies; your right hand will seize your foes.”
[You, Lord God, did just that in the resurrection of Christ, defeating the devil, death, and destruction. And you will continue to act in righteous justice against tho…
Psalm 21:8 “Your hand will lay hold on all your enemies; your right hand will seize your foes.”
[You, Lord God, did just that in the resurrection of Christ, defeating the devil, death, and destruction. And you will continue to act in righteous justice against tho…
Psalm 21:7 “For the king trusts in the LORD;”
[When David trusted in you, he was led on in paths righteousness. When Jesus trusted you in his time on earth as a man He was totally vulnerable, absolutely weak, fully helpless in his humanness.
But He was willing t…
Psalm 21:6 “Surely you have granted him eternal blessings”
[You granted David the blessing of being an ancestor of Jesus, and along with that, eternal life. You granted Jesus the blessing of the Resurrection and now He lives forever to intercede for those who bel…
Psalm 21:5 “Through the victories you gave, his glory is great;”
[David was given many victories, beginning with Goliath and spanning his whole reign.
Jesus, in His incarnation was strengthened by God’s power and had one long string of victories: no sin, no fail…
Well, today was a good opportunity to trust God and see Him work swiftly and just in time.
On the way home from church our car suddenly began to buck and snort and lost power (picture below). I was able to nurse it to the high point on our road and then shut the …
Nearing the Autobio end
It was so good to arrive back in Connecticut from Germany and settle into our little house by the water. We could sit in our living room, look out the big windows and enjoy the ever-changing view of our pond.
The quietness, the rich green…
Today was quite an eventful day for us. We had a yard sale and spent from 9 to 4 working on that, with much success, selling the majority of what we had for sale.
But the much greater thing is what happened after the yard sale. We have a new homeless man, D, stay…
Psalm 21:3 “You welcomed him with rich blessings and placed a crown of pure gold on his head.”
[You crowned David as king, after his long wait of living years as an outlaw. And you crowned Jesus as Savior, after His 30 year wait, then after His 3 years of intense…
I praise you, Lord God, for your never-ending flow of grace, forgiveness and transformation in this present life.
I praise you that today is a gift from your hand, prepared and packaged perfectly so that I might walk with you through every event in the light of y…
Every day, Lord Jesus, we grieve your Spirit, choosing to exalt our ideas and agendas over your Word. You endure this willingly, and thankfully, your suffering this pain inflicted by us does not alter the course of your love, your plans or your grace for us. You a…
Psalm 21:2 “You have granted him the desire of his heart and have not withheld the request of his lips.”
[You consistently answered David’s prayers, giving guidance, help, protection and victory. In the many battles he was involved in, there is no mention of Davi…
Psalm 21. For the director of music. A Psalm of David.
[This Psalm has a triple message. First it speaks of David’s relationship with the Lord; secondarily it is a Messianic prophecy, predicting the victory of Jesus over death and the devil; third, it speaks tru…
Another Autobio piece: Shifting To a New Era in Life
In the Fall of 2011 Barbara spoke often of how tired she was, how discouraged she was because she was unable to care adequately for her mother. For the past year Barbara had slept six nights a week at her mother…
What a change you are bringing in my being through memorizing and meditating on your Word, Lord, especially Psalms 18, 34, 37, 62 and 86. This is certainly a foretaste of heaven as you bring me out into an ever more spacious place, into growing freedom, into a gre…
As I continue to memorize and meditate on your rich and powerful Word, Lord, you continue to transform my being.
There is a growing grasp of your great supply of significance and honor, poured out upon me every day. This is part of an ongoing, deep, transformatio…
I praise you, Lord God, for the way you are using Scripture to transform me, bringing change in my thinking, my will, my emotions, my responses, my values and my motives.
To memorize your Word and meditate on it is powerful. It is pouring your perspective down in…
You, Lord Jesus, are the God of Wisdom, the King of Knowledge, the Lord of Understanding, the Ruler of Insight, able to see into the next million years and know all that will come to pass. In all this You have a plan and will bring it to pass.
I praise you that w…
Praise you, O God, my Three-in-One Lord: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Within your Trinity is a great demonstration of unity and diversity, of submission in equality, of humility in cooperation, of perfection beyond comprehension. I praise you that in you there is …
[Written in early 2011 while living in Germany to care for Omi, Barbara’s mother.]
Praise you, Lord, for the knowledge that you are the manager of my life. In your goodness, wisdom, grace and love you are constantly at work, arranging events, filtering out evil, …
New Installment of my autobio: more ministry in Germany
At times I was asked to speak in different churches. This was far more demanding than everyday chats. My German was understandable in a personal conversation, but I was a grammatical cripple. The complexity…
Psalm 20:9 “O LORD, save the king!”
[Praise you that you saved king David in every battle—there is no report of him being wounded in the dozens if not hundreds of battles he fought. And you saved him in every difficulty—in the struggles with King Saul, with the P…
Psalm 20:8 “Some trust in chariots and some in horses…[but] They are brought to their knees and fall,”
[Horses die, chariots shatter, people pass, strength subsides, and every person in the world at some time comes to the end of his or her rope where there is no …
Psalm 20:7b “but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.”
[You are the only One who is trustable to the end: you are the eternal God of all might, the everlasting Lord of all power, the undying Creator of every creature, the ongoing Ruler of all dominions and …
Today something different: a February poem for a July day.
2/24/07
The night was crisp and dark
The crooked smile of a new moon
rested in the leafless arms
Of the winter trees overhead
Surrounded by bright stars
But look! some of the stars
Have fallen into the tre…
Psalm 20:7 “Some trust in chariots and some in horses,”
Yes, Lord, we often trust in other powers: money, might or men of position. Sometimes we trust in training, technology and theology. And sometimes we trust in planning, persuasion and people.
But all of the…
I praise you, Lord Jesus, that you know every bend, every turn, every pitfall in the path you have laid out for me, as well as every ambush the enemy has set up. And you prepare me for them as I spend time with you each morning.
Then, as I keep on the whole armor…
Autobio episode for Sunday
In addition to the economic differences in Germany, there was another difficulty for me with this relocation to Europe: the language. I could speak enough German to buy things, ask basic questions and have an informal chat, but that is…
Thank you, Lord God, that you have made faith the primary means of joining you in your great plans, so anyone can do that: young and old, illiterate, and highly educated, rich and poor, powerful and weak, new believer or old.
This is an exciting truth, for it sho…
Thank you for the wonder of knowing you, Lord Jesus, of having your grace, goodness and greatness in my life, of being continually offered rest, hope, and peace, a partnership of purpose and power in prayer, of being able to join you in what you are doing.
Than…
In the last couple of days I’ve had conversations with several people who are angry and discouraged by the injustice going on. People in power are getting away with serious crimes while the average joe goes to jail for years for the same thing. The lying, cheating…
Psalm 20:5 “We will shout for joy when you are victorious”
[We will glorify you, Lord God, for any and all victories--for people being set free, coming to know you, overcoming temptation, maturing in you, sharing with unbelieving friends. You are the great Doer o…
More Autobio—Provision in Germany
On the way home from hospital after my angiogram, Christian said, “My wife and I would like to give you a car. We bought this one recently and put an ad for our old one in the paper, but for some reason the paper never printed it…
Psalm 20:4 “May he give you the desire of your heart”
[This echoes the statement of Psalm 37:4, “Delight yourself also in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.” As we find our delight in you, Lord, it is safe for you to answer our prayers, for …
From my worship journal, written in 2010
You, Lord, are the God of provision, flooding our lives with your gracious goodness, your constant kindness, your wide wisdom, your illuminating insight, and great grace.
Truly, our cup overflows; you have brought us into…
Psalm 20:2 “May he send you help from the sanctuary and grant you support from Zion.”
[Praise you, Lord God, that by prayer we can enter your sanctuary at any time and know that you will hear and accept us. Praise you that you always send help, just the right hel…
Psalm 20:“May the LORD answer you when you are in distress;”
[Praise you, Jehovah Yahweh, that you DO answer as it says in Psalm 86:7, “I will call upon the Lord in the day of trouble, for he will answer me.” As each of us has seen over and over, you pay attention,…
You, Lord, will always do what is best in your faithfulness, in your goodness, in your wisdom, in your love, in your righteousness, in your grace and in your power.
I praise you, Lord, for the privilege of being weak, but I can rest in your might—there is so much…
More on settling into Germany in 2008
Since this was Barbara’s hometown, despite having been away for forty years, she had lots of relationships, which were very helpful. The main connection was the Baptist church in town, whose members there were very helpful, …
[The following devotional was especially appropriate for me in 2016 when I read it in my hospital bed after having an incident of “Atrial Flutter,” another adventure with God. This flutter caused my blood pressure to go way down and my pulse way up, resulting in a…
“O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.”
[You are my unmovable foundation, the Rock of Truth, my LORD. You are Yahweh, Jehovah, the Holy God, pure and sinless, separate and supreme, who hates sin and will judge it, while somehow you love sinners and therefore provided …
Psalm 19:14 “May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight,”
Yes, Lord, may both my inner and outer speech please you. Lord, bring the continual transformation of my heart so I will please you in my thought life, so my public …
Psalm 19:13 “Keep your servant also from willful sins; may they not rule over me.”
[This is where I am fully responsible and where I very much need your grace, your help and guidance, Lord Jesus, my great Shepherd. I thank you that you have prepared me for this s…
Psalm 19:12 “Who can discern his errors?”
[My inner being, below my consciousness, is largely inscrutable and opaque to me. In there I unknowingly sin with wrong motives, wrong attitudes and wrong desires.
These sins are from my flesh, from the inherited residue…
Psalm 19:11 “By them [The ordinances of the LORD] is your servant warned;”
[The ordinances of the LORD reveal danger, show us how to avoid evil and protect us from our own wrong desires. We must pay attention to your warnings, Lord, for it is up to us to obey wha…
Psalm 19:9b “The ordinances of the LORD are sure”
[There is no doubt, no shakiness, no uncertainty in your Word, Lord. What You command and reveal is absolutely true, fully trustable and entirely correct. We can have confidence in, rely on and rest in all that yo…
Psalm 19
“The fear of the LORD is pure, enduring forever.”
[What we do out of our great reverence for you will be pure and positive, as well as lasting forever. To do things because we love God and know that obedience to Him will protect us from harm is good, ver…
We are very thankful that God fulfilled Psalm 37 in our lives this week. “Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in him and he shall bring it to pass, he shall bring forth your righteousness as the light and your judgment as the noon day sun.
Winning the case a…
Well, I am glad to report that God answered our prayers as in today’s court hearing I was declared innocent and the restraining order was taken away! We are very happy with this and thank God for giving us a careful, thoughtful and thorough judge. Thank you for yo…
More from Psalm 19 “The commands of the LORD are radiant, giving light to the eyes.”
[Your Word shines like the noon day sun, showing us the way, illuminating what is right and wrong, falling with power on our path so we can know what could cause us to stumble, …
Psalm 19:8 “The precepts of the LORD are right,”
[You, Lord, make the lines clear: this is right, that is wrong. And praise you that you do it as much in principles as in particulars, like, "honor your father and mother," which can be lived out differently in dif…
Move to Germany 2008
Our plan for our trip to Germany, on the recommendation of friends, was to drive to the Western edge of Greece and take a ferry to Venice. That would eliminate the need to drive through the patchwork of countries that used to be Yugoslavia, wh…
Psalm 19:7b “The statutes of the LORD are trustworthy, making wise the simple.”
[We are all foolish in our natural, fallen selves, especially, Lord, in the light of your deep and wide, full and powerful wisdom. In comparison with you, we are all very simple. Espe…
Psalm 19:7 “The law of the LORD is perfect,”
[You make no mistakes, Lord--what you revealed is completely correct, perfectly presented, totally trustable. Your law is without flaw, without error, without lack. It is THE one thing in this world that we can fully l…
Today on my prayer list was a prayer for “forgiving and rewriting.” This, for me, was a comforting reminder. To forgive is the highest form of obedience, often done in teeth-gritting-obedience. But the process of “rewriting” makes it easier. Rewriting means lookin…
You, Lord, are the God of undying, unending kindness, of supremely positive provision, of ever-flowing grace and goodness. And, in spite of what we are in our nature, you constantly give good to us, because it is your nature do so: you are Love, you are Light, you…
Psalm 19:4b-6 “In the heavens he has pitched a tent for the sun, which is like a bridegroom coming forth from his pavilion, like a champion rejoicing to run his course It rises at one end of the heavens and makes its circuit to the other; nothing is hidden from it…
More on the “God of communication” who works in all people to give them the knowledge they need to move towards, believe in and surrender to Him
[I think of my 78 year old Eskimo friend (picture here) who grew up on the Eastern shore of Siberia at the end of the …
At the beginning of September we had an opportunity for a short break at the seashore with both our sons and daughters in-law. It was a pleasant and restful time, just what we needed after the extreme stress of the conferences and my subsequent stent insertion. I …
Is God Fair Part 3B
God knows what challenges each person requires to see his or her need for a Savior, and then to grow spiritually. He does what is best for each, individually tailoring circumstances and events.
This is very “unfair” from the politically correct…
God is really at work in my life, giving me lots of opportunities to put into practice things that I teach, such as offering the sacrifice of thanksgiving in all things.
The drama with my angry renter continues as he is calling in government agencies to inspect in…
Is God Fair? Part 3A
In answering the question, "Is God fair?" (meaning, in today’s thinking, “Does He give everyone the same things?”), we have looked at the first two parts of the answer: "No" and "Yes."
The third answer to this question is another, “No.” God,…
Hello Friends! Last night I was unable to post due to internet problems. My apologies.
Tonight, like David, I am facing attacks, legal attacks on multiple fronts. All of them are illegitimate and lies, but they must be faced and worked through. One of my renters …
More Autobiography from 2008
Upon returning home from the conferences, although I was feeling fine, I knew the pressures on me had been tremendous, so I decided to go to my cardiologist for a checkup. He did a thorough exam and found some suspicious signs, so he s…
Is God Fair? Part 2B
Here are more ways in which God is “fair,” offering the same things to everyone, regardless of any differences in them or their situation.
--God watches over each person, is aware of the heart condition of each, and loves each with the same …
Is God fair? Part 2A
As stated in part one, fairness, as defined in our age of tolerance, is that everyone should to get the same thing. In light of this, we have to answer the question, “Is God fair” with “No,” “Yes” and “No.” We looked at the first "No" in part …
Is God Fair Part 1B
An entry in my worship journal expands on how God is not fair, but full of grace.
You, Lord Jesus are faithful: faithful to Your righteousness, to your holiness, to your justice, to perfect judgment of evil. And you, Heavenly Father, being lo…
Is God Fair Part 1B
An entry in my worship journal expands on how God is not fair, but full of grace.
You, Lord Jesus are faithful: faithful to Your righteousness, to your holiness, to your justice, to perfect judgment of evil. And you, Heavenly Father, being lo…
Is God fair? Part 1A
Fairness, as defined in our age of "tolerance," is that everyone should get the same thing, be given "what we deserve." In light of this, when we ask the question, “Is God fair?” we have to answer the question, with “No,” “Yes” and “No.” We'l…
"As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.” John 15:9
I thank you that you love me, Lord Jesus, I whom am naturally a man of unbelief, of fear, of rebellion, of selfishness and laziness, of pride and criticalness. But in spite of wha…
Thank you, Lord Jesus, for your kind and constant working in me when I am not faithful, for your unceasing love and goodness in spite of my rebellion and unbelief. I praise you that you never give up on us and will pursue us to the end.
Thank you for your wide, c…
More on the conferences in 2008
At the end of the first conference, some attendees left and others arrived for the next two conferences. The difficulties with transportation continued. In addition, we found out that the hotel had overbooked and some of our people…
Psalm 18:50b The Lord “shows unfailing kindness to his anointed, to David and his descendants forever.”
[You, Lord, have proved faithful in protecting the line of David down through the ages, from Abraham to Moses, to Judah to Joseph and Mary. You brought the pro…
Psalm 18:50 “He gives his king great victories;”
[You, Lord, give us opportunity to participate in your victories each day, in every temptation, every stress, every desire to grumble--each an opportunity to take up your grace and glorify you with the sacrifice of…
Psalm 18:48b “You exalted me above my foes;”
[Yes, Lord, “You rescue me from my strong enemies, from my foes who are too strong for me.” (Psalm 18:17)]
“from violent men you rescued me.”
[They “confronted me on the day of my disaster, but the Lord was my suppor…
As Psalm 18:46,47 tell us, in the midst of his battles, David could shout:
“The LORD lives! Praise be to my Rock! Exalted be God my Savior! He is the God who avenges me, who subdues nations under me,”
[As far as we know, David was never defeated in battle and ne…
Psalm 18:42 "I beat them as fine as dust borne on the wind; I poured them out like mud in the streets.”
[David knew this is your doing, Lord Jesus, for you are his shield and strength].
18:43-45 [David could say in his situation] “You have delivered me from the…
As King David wrote Psalm 18, he faced human foes; we more often face the unseen ones of the devil and his minions. However, the reality of the battle is the same and the One who vanquishes the enemy is also the same.
As we follow you, Lord Jesus, our Warrior Ki…
Summer of 2008
The summer of 2008 proved to be an incredibly stressful one for me. We were finishing up a big construction project for the business, one that had promise of a good profit. However, that was the year the world-wide financial crisis crashed onto the …
Green is the color of Spring: vibrant and lush, full of life and promise. And so it is again this year. The leaves came out slowly, warm days interspersed with cold ones, making the opening delight last longer. I love it, this is my favorite time of the year.
We …
More on the purpose of life. The Lord God, has given us meaning in life, the possibility of having purpose, which can only flow from Him. Without our Great God, all else is, from a human perspective, meaningless, random, chaos, and chance.
I think, in contrast, o…
I praise you, Lord God, Creator and Sustainer of all, for the meaning you give us in life, for the possibility of having purpose, which can only flow from you. Without you all else is, from a human perspective, meaningless, random, chaos, and chance.
In contrast,…
Psalm 18:36 “You broaden the path beneath me, so that my ankles do not turn.”
[You attend to the details I can’t even think about, Lord, like where my next step will be; your capacity to deal with the minutia of our lives is amazing.
You protect through provisi…
Psalm 18:35 “You give me your shield of victory,”
[Your shield, your powerful, proficient, positive protection for us goes on and on, Lord, as you give us your shield of victory. But I must take it up and lift it with praise (Eph. 6:16)--and as I do so, you give …
More on Psalm 18:34 “He trains my hands for battle; my arms can bend a bow of bronze.”
To you be glory, Lord, for your wisdom, for your knowing what will come, for your faithfulness in preparing us, for your unfailing presence with us, for the fact we can praise …
Big Challenges
In the year of 2008, things beyond our control were developing which would take us in a new and different direction. Barbara’s mother was 89 at the time, living alone in her own home and in need of help. After much prayer we sensed the Lord leading…
Big Challenges
In the year of 2008, things beyond our control were developing which would take us in a new and different direction. Barbara’s mother was 89 at the time, living alone in her own home and in need of help. After much prayer we sensed the Lord leading…
Big Challenges
In the year of 2008, things beyond our control were developing which would take us in a new and different direction. Barbara’s mother was 89 at the time, living alone in her own home and in need of help. After much prayer we sensed the Lord leading…
Chapter 84 Big Challenges
In the year of 2008, things beyond our control were developing which would take us in a new and different direction. Barbara’s mother was 89 at the time, living alone in her own home and in need of help. After much prayer we sensed the Lo…
Chapter 84 Big Challenges
In the year of 2008, things beyond our control were developing which would take us in a new and different direction. Barbara’s mother was 89 at the time, living alone in her own home and in need of help. After much prayer we sensed the Lo…
Psalm 18:34 “He trains my hands for battle; my arms can bend a bow of bronze.”
[Lord, you prepare your children on every level for what you know will come. We see this in how you put Joseph through training in Potiphar’s house, and then through serving others in …
Psalm 18:33b “he enables me to stand on the heights.”
[For David, to be on the heights was to be safe, to be the winner. And you, Lord Jesus, make us winners with you by bringing us to the mountain tops of truth, wisdom and faith. You guide us through the valleys…
Psalm 18:33 "He makes my feet like the feet of a deer;”
[David had to be quick and sure of foot in his fleeing from King Saul, as well as in his battles. In our battles with the Satan and the people he uses against us, you, Lord Jesus, make it possible for us to …
Psalm 18:32 “It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect.”
[It is not my wisdom or effort, my talent or training nor my resources that bring effectiveness. It is you alone, Lord God, who prepares all. You are the Mighty and Wise One who pours str…
“God sightings” (seeing God intervene in our lives) are such a wonderful way to see the Lord’s careful and precise working for us. In Hebrews 12 it says, “Run with endurance the race that He has set out for us, looking to Jesus the Author and Finisher of our faith…
Psalm 18:31 “For who is God besides the LORD? And who is the Rock except our God?”
There is no one else like you, O LORD, the Eternal One with no beginning or ending--all others are creatures with a finite start, each one designed to be in relation to you. You, a…
Another Installment of Autobio, more on revival
The experience of dealing with specific sins, I found, was just the beginning of a revival, one which is continuing to this day. It is an upward trajectory which brings more freedom, more joy, more light, better rel…
More on Psalm 18:30c, “He is a shield for all who take refuge in him.”
When we believe your Word, Lord, and offer the sacrifice of thanksgiving, you raise up your shield of love and power over us. We hide in you by giving you honor in words of worship, offering t…
More on Psalm 18:30b “the word of the LORD is flawless.”
Sadly, many twist your Word for selfish reasons, cutting it out of context, taking a superficial, separate understanding, even blatantly denying what it clearly says and using it for their own ends, rather …
Psalm 18:30b “the word of the LORD is flawless.
[Praise be to you, Lord, that we can trust your Word completely: there is no error, no contradiction, no mistake, no flaw in it. It is a light to our path in this dark world. When you speak, command, direct and teac…
More on Psalm 18:30 “As for God, his way is perfect;”
Praise be to you for teaching us that being weak is a wonder, that we can and should delight in our deficiencies and difficulties, for in such weakness your power is made perfect and Christ's power might come …
Psalm 18:30 “As for God, his way is perfect;”
[You, O Lord God, make no mistakes. You always do what is right, with excellence and without error. We can trust you to lead us aright, to teach us your wonderful way, to show us what is perfect, true, noble, lovely a…
More from my Autobiography
Fall of 2005
I continued to pray for revival, and in answer to my pleas, God gave me diarrhea! I was so weak that I spent five days in bed. I didn’t even have the strength to read, so I spent a lot of time in prayer instead.
. During…
Here is a declaration of dependence, a plan for joining God rather than asking Him to join me.
Psalm 18:29 “With your help I can advance against a troop; with my God I can scale a wall.”
[This is a powerful picture of David’s dependence on you, Lord, seeing his …
“God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.” James 4:6
Praise be to you, Heavenly Father, for your working in us--gracious and patient, continual and deep--bringing transformation through your Word in our mind, will and emotions so that we might walk on…
Psalm 18:27b “but [you] bring low those whose eyes are haughty.”
[This you also do in your love, Lord: you humble those who live in the darkness of self-delusion, encouraging them to come to you in the light. But unfortunately, they prefer darkness, thinking they…
More on Psalm 18:27 “You save the humble”
The reality is that you are the One in charge, who holds together the nucleus of every atom in the universe, who keeps every star in place, who brings the dawn, gives the rain, provides our food—we are totally dependent o…
Psalm 18:27 “You save the humble”
This, Lord, is your requirement for salvation: humility, which can be defined as “seeing ourselves as you see us.” And humility’s prime characteristic is teachableness. Will we allow God to teach us or will we go our own way? Hum…
Psalm 18:26 “but to the crooked you show yourself shrewd.”
[On the negative side, you interact with rebels in a way that is meaningful to them, a way that gets their attention, a case in point being Jacob.
From the beginning Jacob was crooked in his dealings, ma…
More from my autobiography
In the summer of 2005 while we were in the States, Pastor Paul, the pastor in my home church in Connecticut, challenged me to begin praying for revival, both for myself and for the church. I took up his challenge and added this to my pra…
Psalm 18:25,26 “To the faithful you show yourself faithful, to the blameless you show yourself blameless, to the pure you show yourself pure,”
[This is an encouragement to develop these qualities in our walk with Jesus. For we can only have these qualities, Lord …
Spring time! My favorite season, full of promise and hope. Every day the sun comes up earlier, every evening it goes down later. It is a reminder of the newness of Life that Jesus brought to us, and brings to us new every day.
The chores of winter have dropped of…
Psalm 18:22,23 “All his laws are before me; I have not turned away from his decrees. I have been blameless before him and have kept myself from sin.”
[Again, I cannot say any of this for myself; I continue to be blameworthy, struggling with the sinful, selfish wa…
Psalm 18:20 “The LORD has dealt with me according to my righteousness;”
[O Lord, praise you that you deal with us according to the imputed righteousness you have given us in Christ, not our own--for I have none. You would have to condemn me instantly to Hell if m…
Praise you, Lord, that with you, every day is filled with Sonshine, for your light of love and life shines continually on us and in us, giving encouragement, perspective, purpose, power and joy: “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you,” said Jesus, and th…
Psalm 18:19 “He brought me out into a spacious place;”
[You don’t just rescue us, you bring us into a positive position, a superior situation, a wide and pleasant place with you. You are the giver of great good and abundant grace.]
“he rescued me because he deli…
After my open-heart surgery in 2006 I woke up in the recovery room. My mouth was painfully dry, and there was a big tube in it. When the orderly noticed that I was awake, he came over and removed the tube, which evidently went right down into my windpipe, forcing…
Psalm 18:16 “He reached down from on high and took hold of me; he drew me out of deep waters.”
[Our God is never too busy to stoop down and help any of His children; He pays close attention to each one and acts to help at the right time, especially as we fall int…
Psalm 18:9-15 “He parted the heavens and came down; dark clouds were under his feet.
He mounted the cherubim and flew; he soared on the wings of the wind.
He made darkness his covering, his canopy around him—the dark rain clouds of the sky.
Out of the brightness of h…
Psalm 18:6 “In my distress I called to the LORD; I cried to my God for help. From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came before him, into his ears.”
[And when, in faithfulness and love He heard David’s cry, God moved in His might to answer. David was involved …
More thoughts on Psalm 18:3 “I call to the LORD, who is worthy of praise, I am saved from my enemies.”
On one level of danger, we all were entangled by the cords of death, for we lived in the dominion of darkness, in the despairing, depressing world of the dying,…
Psalm 18:3 “I call to the LORD, who is worthy of praise,”
[You, Lord [Jehovah], are worthy of praise because of your holiness. You are completely other than your creatures: eternal, pure, wise, all powerful, all knowing, all seeing, totally independent of all you…
Psalm 18:2b “my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge.”
[You, O God, are Elohim, the powerful One who showed your might in creation; and you are the consistent One, who showed your faithfulness in providing salvation as was first promised in the Garden of Eden. Y…
Autobio Time Again.
After being told I had to have an angiogram to see the condition of my heart, Barbara and I walked to “Hope Hospital,” a privately run institution and arrived at the appointed time. The admitting doctor was aghast that we’d walked there in my…
Psalm 18:2 “The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer;”
[You, Jehovah, the holy and sin-hating God, Creator of the Universe, the Beginner and Ender of time, are our mighty Rock: unshakable, unmovable, unending and unchanging, ever stable, ever trustable. …
You, Jesus, declared in John 15:9, "As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.”
In verse 11 you continue, “.... I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete".
[You are not only the One who loves…
Psalm 18 is one of my favorite psalms, for it reveals the rich and deep relationship David had with his Lord. His God who sustained him in the midst of the problems, pressures and the ever present dangers of his life. David is a good example to us, as he takes eve…
You are the God who forgives, cleanses, adopts, equips and invites us into significant roles in your great plan.You will right wrong, infuse good, eliminate evil and bring a re-created universe into eternity with you. Wow!
Are we who have believed in you, going t…
Praise you, my Heavenly Father, King of Glory, Creator of the universe, the Beginner and Ender of time. When you created all the physical universe, Satan was there, as were all the angels, fallen and faithful both.
What was there before all we know was created? W…
Psalm 17:15 “And I—in righteousness I will see your face;”
[Praise you, Lord Jesus, that you have given me your righteousness and opened the way so that I will see you in eternity, face to face. What a hope, what a high and wide security, equipping us to face the…
Picture: ready for my stress test
Two years after Barbara’s fall down the stairs, we went on vacation in late September. Barbara first went to a women’s conference while I took a business trip to a city on the coast. After my business was completed, I drove to t…
Psalm 17:14 “O LORD, by your hand save me from such men, from men of this world whose reward is in this life”
[The wicked are in the hand of the evil one; they live only for this world: they are shortsighted, focused on only what they can get in the short run and…
Psalm 17:12 “…the wicked who assail me…are like a lion hungry for prey, like a great lion crouching in cover.”
[Our powerful enemies, Satan and his hordes, are like a beast desperate for food: dangerous, destructive and determined--burning churches, killing Chris…
Psalm 17:11 “They have tracked me down, they now surround me, with eyes alert, to throw me to the ground.”
[Satan intentionally sends his servants out to track us down and attack. This description of spiritual warfare is expanded on in Psalm 62:3-4: “How long wil…
Psalm 17:9 "… hide me in the shadow of your wings from the wicked who assail me, from my mortal enemies who surround me.”
[For David, these enemies were actual people; for us it is sometimes people acting like our enemies, but it is actually our spiritual foes, S…
Psalm 17:8b “hide me in the shadow of your wings.”
[You, Heavenly Father, actively shelter your children, covering us with your Presence and Power, keeping us safe from what is truly evil.
But we, like chicks, must choose to stay under your wings, to abide in yo…
More on Psalm 17:8 “Keep me as the apple of your eye;”
And in John 15:9, “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you.”
How does the Father love the Son? Most foundationally, the Father loves the Son because God IS love; He can never not love. His love is “a…
Last week we wrote about Nat’s very short courtship leading to his good, long marriage. He needed a nudge to consider the girl he married. And so did our older son was much more cautious. He had had two difficult relationships that hadn’t worked out; then a third …
Psalm 17:8 “Keep me as the apple of your eye;”
[This, Lord God, is how you view each of your children, the object of your illogical, unbelievable love: we are special, unique, wonderful and dearly loved. By you we are delighted in, doted on and deeply cared for. …
As a Christian, you have probably heard the term "spiritual warfare" more than once. It's a common phrase used in the church and in Christian circles to describe the battle between good and evil that takes place in the spiritual realm. But what does it mean, and h…
Psalm 17:7 “Show the wonder of your great love,
[Yours, Lord Jesus, is a love far richer and deeper, more committed than even David could know in his time.
He was not able to see your great plan to move through your immense suffering--spiritually, mentally, emotiona…
Psalm 17:6 “I call on you, O God, for you will answer me; give ear to me and hear my prayer.”
[Your faithfulness, Lord, is the impetus for prayer. You Will hear, you Will answer, you Will help--because it is your nature to be faithful!
As my wife says, you, Lord…
Psalm 17:3 “Though you probe my heart and examine me at night, though you test me, you will find nothing;”
[Here is a statement I find hard to understand. I cannot say this--only a slight probe in me will find a multitude of wrong in my motives, thoughts and acti…
Psalm 17:2 “May my vindication come from you; may your eyes see what is right.”
[Truly, vindication can only fully come from you, Lord, for only you know fully what is good. We can rest in that awesome truth that you see everything, both right and wrong, and love…
Psalm 17:1 “Hear, O LORD, my righteous plea; listen to my cry.”
[You, Lord, are the prayer-answering God. Intercession was your idea, giving us a way to enter your presence, your arms, your heart. It is the primary way that we can join you in your plans. People …
Right from the time he was little Nat had an intense interest in airplanes and flying. He decided early on that he wanted to be a pilot, so we got him a flight simulator and he learned how to land a 747 on an aircraft carrier! On one trip to Germany he asked if he…
Two more things God promises us in Psalm 16:11
“you will fill me with joy in your presence,”
[Truly, knowing Jesus is enough for joy! The more we know you, the deeper our joy goes, overflowing, energizing, transforming and guiding. It is not our circumstances, b…
Psalm 16:8b,9 “…he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;”
[You, Lord God, are the reason I can be glad and rejoice, for you are mightily faithful, lovingly good, totally wise and graciously giving. There is …
Psalm 16:8 “I have set the LORD always before me.”
[To my shame, I cannot say that I do this always, but certainly want to keep you at the center of my life, Lord Jesus. I want to acclaim you in every aspect of my life, to have my heart open to your guidance at …
Psalm 16:7 “I will praise the LORD,”
[Yes, I will wholeheartedly, with every part of my being, praise you--such a wonderful Lord you are, the King of Kings, the God of greatness, the Lord of lords, the Sovereign Shepherd, the Mighty Master, the Creator of all cre…
“surely I have a delightful inheritance.”
[Out of your glorious treasures you have prepared a rich inheritance for your undeserving children. As it says in Ephesians 1:3, you have blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus—every po…
Psalm 16:6 “The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;”
[Where you have placed us, Lord, is more than pleasant: we are within the Kingdom of Light, under the Lordship of the Great Shepherd, within the Family of God, on the right way to Heaven, in t…
After Barbara fell down the stairs and I picked her up and ran out to the real estate agent’s car. He drove us to the nearest medical place, a private hospital in the cellar of a mosque in our neighborhood. He was so nervous that he almost had an accident on the w…
Psalm 16:5 “LORD, you have assigned me my portion and my cup;”
[All I have comes from you, O Holy God: my position, my provision, my protection, my portion. And what you give is good. This includes my body, my brains, my boundaries, my bonds, my bounty; whatever …
Psalm 16:3 “As for the saints who are in the land, they are the glorious ones in whom is all my delight.”
[You, Heavenly Father, made us saints when you led us to be born again. You qualified us to be partakers in the Kingdom of Light, you rescued us from the dom…
Psalm 16:2b “apart from you I have no good thing.”
[This is a full focus on Truth—only you, Lord, are truly Good. All else that I have is chaff--temporary and worthless in the long run. As the author of Psalm 73 said, “Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has…
Psalm 16:1 “Keep me safe, O God,”
[And You can easily do this, Lord Jesus, for as my Good Shepherd you are incredibly powerful, deeply wise, all-knowing, all-present and all-seeing, living outside of time. You are passionately loving and whole-heartedly compassio…
You, Lord, are a wonder, too good to be true--but are actually even better than that!
I thank you so much, Heavenly Father, for the privilege of not just being in your family, but of being able to come, at any minute, directly to you in the throne room of Heaven …
Praise be to you, Lord God, for your kind and consistent, detailed and direct involvement in our lives.
I exalt you, Lord, for how you are so persistent in pouring pardon into our lives, giving us the opposite of what we deserve.
Thank you for your patience with…
Chapter 80 Forced Adjustments
In 1993 I began to have chest pains that then migrated down my left arm. I got a stress test done, but it did not indicate that there was anything seriously wrong. However, I took the pains as a warning and decided that I needed to b…
One night when I went to give a discipleship lesson, I found that the couple had just gotten a new little dog. He’d been suddenly taken from his familiar environment where he’d lived all his 3 years and was feeling very unsure and insecure in this new situation. …
Praise be to you, Lord, for how faithful and good, wise and powerful you are. We see this in the expanse of the heavens, which you stretched out for billions of, not just miles, but light years. You filled it with stars, (Psalm 33:6) gathered them into galaxies an…
[News: Barbara is home from the hospital and is much better!]
Another way of revealing Him to others is to share what we are learning as we read, study, memorize and meditate on Scripture. The insights and understandings He brings are far above human thinking and …
Thank you for your prayers for Barbara. She is definitely better today and may come home tomorrow!
Day 2 of retirement (written in 2015)
Praise be to you, Lord God, that you were there, waiting for me this morning, after watching over us all night. I praise you for …
A little different post today: 3 requests for prayer.
First, I just came home from spending the day at the hospital with my little wife, Barbara. She has a serious urinary infection that led to sepsis, a life threatening condition. Last night when I dragged her to…
Day one of my retirement—written in 2015
Praise you, Lord, for this, the first real day of my retirement from official ministry. It is the dawning of a new era, like in the picture here.
At this point it is primarily a financial change, as I plan to keep on doing …
Another person who joined us in the fellowship start was Robert, who had a sister and brother-in-law who came to Christ in another city through the correspondence course. Robert’s sister had talked with him at length about spiritual things, andh e went to the smal…
Psalm 15:4 “who despises a vile man”
[You see all; nothing is hidden from you; you know what is vile and rightly reject it. In righteousness you despise what is unrighteous, while somehow still loving every sinner and seeking to bring them, into your Forgiveness, …
Further thoughts on Psalm 15:1-5
Jesus is the perfect Paragon of excellence, the sinless Savior and supreme Shepherd, the marvelous and majestic Maker and Founder of our faith. As we read through Psalm 15, every quality the LORD requires for dwelling in His sanct…
Psalm 15:1 "LORD, who may dwell in your sanctuary? Who may live on your holy hill?”
[Praise be to you, Lord God, the High and Holy One, who invites us into your sanctuary, to live with you on your holy hill--through believing on the risen Jesus.
This possibility…
Psalm 14:6 “You evildoers frustrate the plans of the poor, but the LORD is their refuge.”
[Ungodly people prey on the poor instead of praying to God. But when the poor turn to you, Lord, you are their help and protection. You are faithful, you are good and you ar…
Psalm 14:4 “Will evildoers never learn—"
[Lord, this means you are consistently working at teaching all rebels the error of their ways by letting them suffer the consequences of their destructive choices. In your faithfulness and love You are calling them to repe…
Psalm 14:2 “The LORD looks down from heaven on the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God.”
[This means, Lord, that you look into the heart of every single person, you weigh their thoughts, you are concerned for them. Only an infinite…
More Autobio
The Lord was busy working in other people, too. The little photocopy business on the ground floor of our bookstore building was put up for sale.
Since we were looking for new means of income in order to make our business platform self-sustaining, thi…
Psalm 14:1 “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’”
[This is a clear definition of a fool: one with no spiritual discernment or interest, who rejects truth in favor of his own unfounded opinion.
The statement “there is no God” is so far from reality, so en…
Psalm 13:6 "I will sing to the LORD, for he has been good to me.”
[David here still did not have an answer, he was still in danger, but this is a declaration of his trust in God to answer and save--based on his past experience of God's help.
We also can sing now…
Psalm 13:3 “Look on me and answer, O LORD my God. Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death;”
[Thank you that we can cry to you in our desperation, as David did here, Lord. We can always appeal to you, knowing that your faithfulness will flow into our lives…
“How long will my enemy triumph over me?”
[At times the enemy does triumph over us—evil leaders arise in nations (such as ISIS), bad decisions are made by government or mission leaders, churches fall apart, families dissolve in bitterness, hard-working people can …
Psalm 13:1,2 “How long, O LORD?”
[There will be times when God seems distant, when He is not answering our prayers on our timetable (like right now in my life), when things are going awry with no help in sight. We pray and wait, but nothing seems to happen. Ther…
Psalm 12:7 “O LORD, you will keep us safe and protect us from such people [oppressors and liars] forever.”
[Praise you for this certainty, Lord, both now and in eternity. And a major means of protecting us is your Word as you warn us, guide us and set us free of o…
One of our desired outcomes from opening the bookstore and holding the seminars was to see a new fellowship started. In preparation for this, we on the Net Team began to meet together on Sunday afternoons to “practice” being a fellowship.
One reason we agreed t…
Psalm 12:6 “And the words of the LORD are flawless, like silver refined in a furnace of clay, purified seven times.”
[Praise you, Lord God, the King of Glory, the Creator of only good, for you are Truth itself; therefore, your words are flawless and pure as newly…
The Gift of Truth ll
Psalm 12:5 “’Because of the oppression of the weak and the groaning of the needy, I will now arise,’ says the LORD. ‘I will protect them from those who malign them.’”
[Praise you, Lord, that you are the God of justice, that you will, at the r…
Psalm 12:1 “Help, LORD, for the godly are no more; the faithful have vanished from among men.”
[In spite of how it appears, I praise you, Lord, that you have always reserved for yourself some who are righteous in Christ. You are quietly at work to keep your child…
The Wonder of a Sovereign God, who in His Sovereignty gives each person a sphere where they can make real, ethical and moral choices. He loves to partner with us!
Psalm 146:10 “The LORD reigns forever, your God, O Zion, for all generations.”
[Praise you, Lord Jesus…
Psalm 146:9 “The LORD watches over the alien and sustains the fatherless and the widow,”
[You, O Lord, not only see, but act on behalf those who are weak, those whom men are so willing to plunder. You protect, provide and guide the vulnerable, the hurting, the de…
Psalm 146:8b, “…the LORD lifts up those who are bowed down,”
[You, Lord, in your tender love, reach out to all those who are depressed, discouraged and disheartened by the burdens by life as Satan, along with sin and its consequences, beat them up, beat them down…
More Autobio
It was 2001 and now that we were unified as a team we could begin to use the bookstore to hold seminars in an attempt to find spiritually interested people.
Looking for subjects that interested people in general, we had sessions on handling stress, o…
Psalm 146:8 “…the LORD gives sight to the blind….”
[Praise you, Lord, that this is true both physically and spiritually. Spiritual sight is by far the more important one, for if we can see spiritual Truth now, even if our physical eyes are blind, we will see phys…
Satan uses all of his powers to oppress, control, and in the end to crush us like the car in the picture below, killing all he can.
But You, Lord Jesus, have made a way out of this prison of oppression, opening the door to the cell of hopelessness. You have called …
Psalm 146:7b “The LORD sets prisoners free....”
[Right from the beginning of our lives we are all imprisoned by sin in the web of Satan. Everyone is ensnared in the devil's sticky strands of lies, fear and violence.
Just being born into a broken and twisted world…
You are yourself beautiful, O Lord.
You are lovely in goodness, graciousness and gloriousness.
You are righteous and just, positive and pure. .
You are kind, compassionate, forgiving and long suffering.
You are present, protecting, all seeing and caring.
You uphold al…
The Gift of Beauty
Praise the LORD, for another sunny day with pleasant weather and a beautiful countryside: rich, warm morning sunshine streaming over the hills, casting long, deep shadows from the trees and buildings, bringing out every dip and rise in the land. …
The Gift of Supply ll
Psalm 146:7 “He upholds the cause of the oppressed...”
[You, Heavenly Father, with the resurrection of Jesus, went right to the core of the issue and provided the most important of our needs: an escape from the three foundational sources of o…
More from my autobiography
Our Net Team was initially made up of three couples. The other two couples were in their thirties with small children, a different generation than us, with different perspectives on how to do things.
We are from the first year of the “…
The Gift of Supply
Praise be to you, Lord, for your great and gracious heart. Praise you that you look down and see every single person on this earth, all at the same time, and that you are aware of each one’s needs, motives, desires, suffering, rebellion and ange…
The Gift of Faithfulness
Psalm 146:6b “The Lord who remains faithful forever.”
[You, Lord, are the persistent God of Hope, forever pouring joy and peace into our lives as we trust in you (Rom. 15:13)--so that our lives may overflow with hope by the power of the Ho…
Psalm 146:6 “Blessed is the man whose hope is the maker of heaven”
[You made both the throne room of Heaven where you dwell, and the great expanses of space where all the starry hosts dwell: zillions of stars (and you know the name of every one!) placed in trilli…
Psalm 11:7b “His countenance beholds the upright.”
[You, Lord, in your love and goodness, consistently look after us, your children--we who now stand in the righteousness of Christ. You are aware of every event that comes to us, you filter out what is truly evil a…
Psalm 11:5b “But the wicked and the one who loves violence, His [God’s] soul hates."
[Here is one of those seeming paradoxes of the Bible: God loves all yet hates the wicked. Here are three possible understandings among several, all of them true:
--He hates what t…
Posted on December 30th, 2022
Psalm 19:11 “By [The ordinances of the LORD] is your servant warned;”
[They reveal danger, show us how to avoid evil and protect us from our own wrong desires. We must pay attention to your warnings, for it is up to us to obey what …
Posted on December 30th, 2022
Psalm 19:12 “Who can discern his errors?”
[My inner being, below my consciousness, is largely inscrutable and opaque to me. In there I unknowingly sin with wrong motives, wrong attitudes and wrong desires.
These sins are from my fl…
Posted on December 30th, 2022
Psalm 19:13 “Keep your servant also from willful sins; may they not rule over me.”
[This is where I am fully responsible and where I very much need your grace, your help and guidance, Lord Jesus, my great Shepherd. I thank you that …
Posted on December 30th, 2022
Psalm 19:14 “May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight,”
Yes, Lord, may both my inner and outer speech please you. May they be as beautiful as the flowers in this picture. Lord, bring the con…
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