Sunday, September 10, 2023

Poetry: I Met God In The Morning by Ralph Spalding Cushman


I met God in the morning when the day was at its best.

And his presence came like sunrise like a glory in my breast.

All day long his presence lingered all day long he stayed with me,

And we sailed with perfect calmness o'er a very troubled sea.

Other ships were blown and battered.

Other ships were sore distressed,

But the winds that seemed to drive them

Brought to me a peace and rest.

Then I thought of other mornings with a keen remorse of mind

When I too had loosed the moorings with the presence left behind.

Now I think I know the secret learned from many a troubled way.

You must meet him in the morning if you want him through the day.


by Ralph Spalding Cushman


Sunday, September 3, 2023

Don't Wait To Enjoy God's Blessings

Have you ever thought to yourself that if only a certain blessing had come back at the time when you really needed it, it would have been better? Do you sometimes choose to put the use of a blessing on hold until what you feel would be a better time to enjoy it? Ever tried to wait and collect the blessings that you feel go together before you take pleasure in and use them?

I've thought like that. It seems that many things in my life did not happen when I wanted them to. When I feel that I really wanted and needed some things, the acquiring of them eluded me during what I feel were the desired times. They say that God may not come when you want him to but he's always right on time. I have to say that my years of experience with him has proven that, despite what I may feel at times of sadness and distress.

Though I can't say that I've gotten all that I've wanted, yet, or that all has happened when I felt that it most needed to, God has greatly blessed me in many ways. Those blessings came exactly when they should have, because God makes no mistakes and his plans are always perfect. This is what the Word, the Holy Bible, tells us and this is what I choose to believe.

I was standing at the coffeepot thinking about something or another that I was considering putting on hold, or feeling that I had to wait for something else to occur before I could enjoy it. Then I thought "No! God's blessings don't come to be saved. They don't appear to be stored up. They don't happen to be banked. They happen to be utilized and enjoyed as they manifest." 

God is not in the storage business. He's in the immediate-use business, the acquire-it-as-you-need-it business, the demand-and-supply business. Be inspired to live fully each day, draining out each blessing as God sends them your way. Allow each blessing from God to fully bless you, immediately. 

Our blessings are not meant to be stored up and released according to our limited, finite ways of thinking. We are to allow each blessing to flow out immediately and permeate our lives.  From us to others, our blessings are to flow out like rivers of living waters each time that we receive them. 









Sunday, August 27, 2023

God Is A Reveal-er Not A Stealer

Everything that God suggests that we do is to inspire, elevate and prosper us. Everything that God suggests that we don't do is to benefit, heal and deliver us. He's the God of revelation. He reveals what is best for us. Our Father did not send his Son Jesus to take from us. He sent him to give to us and open the eyes and ears of our understanding.

Those of us who are saved can remember when we did not want to accept Jesus Christ as our Savior. We felt that we had to quit this, stop that and cease things. Most of those fears stem from religion. Man has turned God and the Gospel of Jesus Christ into religions. Religion binds us. The way that many Christians promote religion hinders God. 

God's purpose frees us. He is not a religion, nor is His Son or His Holy Spirit. They are. God is and he wants the best for us. He loves us. He simply wants us to come into the knowledge of the truth. 

God wants us to receive a power and understanding that we never knew existed. Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil and he was obedient to Our Father. All that Jesus did was for us because the Father said so. The works of the devil are to deceive, cheat, mislead, blind and keep the lights out. 

Jesus said that he came into the world as a light so that whoever believes in him will not have to live in darkness. (John 12:46). The love of God takes us out of darkness and ignorance and brings us into his marvelous light. We can then understand and receive from him all that pertains to life and godliness. (II Peter 1:3

When we understand and accept that God always wants to give to us, it helps us to be more obedient to the guidance of his Holy Spirit. There is nothing there to steal from us and to make our lives miserable. It's all about the revelation of light.



Friday, August 25, 2023

How To Wait On God

Waiting on God means that when opportunities appear and we make a faithful effort to take advantage of them, then they slip away just as we touch them with our fingertips, we let them go.

Waiting on God means that when doors open and we make faithful efforts to take advantage of them and walk through, and they close just as our feet touch the threshold, we walk away.

When what looks like blessings begin to not materialize, we don't ramp up our efforts and begin to strain, stress and pressure ourselves to obtain, retain and make them happen. We abandon them and wait on Our Father. 

These experiences are his way of helping us to become sensitive to his Holy Spirit's guidance. We are learning to tell the difference between the Spirit's movement and our efforts. God will impress upon us when we need to push forward. We have to learn to detect when we are determined to push forward but God has not led us to.

The difference between the prompting of the Spirit and what we are inclined to do is unmistakable. What we are inclined to do we can easily adopt as the Spirit. We have to be taught by God to not mistake our desires for the Spirit's leading. There's a fine line between them but Our Father is teaching us to recognize it.

Wait on him.





Wednesday, August 23, 2023

Receive Healing Now

Let us join together in believing for your healing. God's divine healing hand reaches out to you now. Have faith. Believe. Trust. Receive healing now. In Jesus' name!

Allow healing to show in your body, your mind, your life. Let it flourish. Let it manifest. Be healed now. In Jesus' name!

*************

Sunday, August 20, 2023

Happy Sunday: Our Father Is Light

 

God said let there be light and there was light. Genesis 1:3

Our Father is light and in him is no darkness at all. I John 1:5

Those who trust him and have accepted His Dear Son Jesus as their Savior will live in the light of The One True God forever and ever. Revelations 21:23

Happy Sunday!

Friday, August 18, 2023

Freedom In Christ No Fellowship In Bondage

Many Christians make a big deal of things that God is not concerned about. They put the yoke of bondage on other Christians and say that it is God. They don't understand freedom in Christ or they won't accept it. They, therefore, don't want others to receive it. They want other Christians to be bound as they are but they don't call it bondage. They call it particulars of the Christian walk that God Our Father requires.

Walking with God is very personal for those who are on the narrow path and who eat and drink the Holy Word everyday. When each of us understands our own freedom in Christ and we take a stand in it, Christian friends are lost. We have to let them fall away. They can't go to a higher level with us today and maybe they never will be able to. We refuse to return to bondage when we are living in the freedom that Christ paid for. We won't go back and they won't go forward, so there is no fellowship. 

Refuse to return to bondage. Galatians 5:1



Sunday, August 13, 2023

Enjoy Each Blessing Fully Poem

ENJOY EACH BLESSING FULLY

 

It seems to me that rarely
Do they come along on time.
We want to get one blessing
So another can align.
 
It seems that life is often
Just a waiting game, you see.
We wait for this to happen,
Then we feel that we can be.
 
But rarely does it happen
That our blessings fall in line,
With what we want to happen
In our fairly finite minds.
 
For God is of the infinite,
The infinite is Him.
And though we may think otherwise,
His plans are not a whim.
 
His plans are not haphazardly
Patched up to make our lives.
The blessings, when they happen,
Are on time and God-devised.
 
Don't try to rearrange them,
Choosing pleasure in just some.
Enjoy each separate blessing
To the fullest, as they come.





(c)Draw Nigh To Hope

Wednesday, August 9, 2023

God Will Defend Us One Way Or Another


God will defend those who believe in his Son. We often don't witness it. Sometimes we do. Whether we experience our vindication in this earthly life or not, we know that all will be vindicated in the end. 

While we are praying to God for vindication against our transgressors, we should remember that someone somewhere is praying to God for vindication against us. Even the person who thinks he/she has led a near perfect life has hurt or offended someone, sometime, somewhere.

Just as Jesus Christ's vindication is coming, be encouraged and strengthened because the vindication of each person who believes is coming also.



Tuesday, August 1, 2023

The Flesh Tried To Crash My Fast!

I decided to fast from coffee, cakes and cookies that day for spiritual advancement. You know that fasting is a way to connect more deeply with God and we can fast from anything.

I had mackerel that day for dinner. When I finished eating I apologetically thought, Oh wow! I need to eat some cookies to counteract that fish breath! 

When the thought came, I was mentally full steam ahead to the cookies. I felt it was needed and that excused me from slightly breaking my fast. Sometimes, all it takes is a positive reminder, a reminder that the flesh will never give.

The Holy Spirit said, Not so fast. Floss and brush you teeth, sister, and get to your spiritual advancement!

The flesh always wants a way out of rightness and discipline and is there to trip us up and cheat us. The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. (Matthew 26:41) God's Holy Spirit is a powerhouse and guides us to success! 

The Holy Spirit is a person, the third person of the Triune/Trinity of God. He has a personality and God sends him to comfort and guide us. The Spirit of God takes up residence in our bodies, His temple, when we accept Jesus as Our Savior. Being filled with The Spirit, however, is a more advanced position that many Christians do not experience but whom anyone can if he/she desires. God does not withhold his goodness from us.

*****