Last year, being fairly new to this blogging thing, I typed out a wonderful word study of a song that God had laid on my heart but then I was so disappointed that my posting efforts didn't work that I ended up losing that note entirely and, to date, had not tried to recreate it.  But, alas, today I must because, once again, I woke to the sound of birds and thought of the song, "Morning has broken".

For those of you who don't know, we have 4 little pet birds... finches.  We started out with three but one of the three always seemed to be the outcast so, after noticing this for a few days, we went and found him a mate. 

The finches are not all the same.  We have a society finch, an orange cheeked waxbill, and two green singer finches (who, if you actually look at them, look more yellow to me).  All of them make some cute little sounds but those singers?, Oh my!  When they want to, they can sure sing.  One of the first things we noticed about them is they like to give a concert when the lights go out at night and when the lights come on in the morning.  I'll have to admit, I don't hear them much in the morning but we have the light in their cage set to a timer and when it goes out at night, they can sing for at least 3 min... most of the time they'll go on for 5 min.

Anyway, after noticing this for a while, I finally put two and two together... you may or may not remember that, last spring, I kept mentioning how I would wake to birds singing outside my window.  Well, it's nature's way of welcoming the day.  When I realized this, it reminded me of that movie "City of Angels" where the angels would greet the sunrise with reverence each morning.

So, here is what God laid on my heart with the song, "Morning has Broken":

"Morning has broken like the first morning,

Blackbird has spoken like the first bird.

Praise for the singing!  Praise for the morning!

Praise for them, springing fresh from the Word!"

Each morning is new with new mercies and new adventures... new stories to write in our pages of life and God creates day uniquely but, at the same time, with some similarity to the first dawn of creation.  We are to praise Him.  Praise Him each day.

"Sweet the rain's new fall sunlit from heaven,

Like the first dew fall on the first grass.

Praise for the sweetness of the wet garden,

sprung in completeness where His feet pass."

Do you take time to meditate?  When you look at nature, it is so easy to praise God... he is the Master Creator, the most wonderful artist ever... even the rain drops are soothing and mesmerizing to watch.  And just think, when He created the garden, He didn't start with seeds planted in the soil, no, he spoke and full grown trees and plants sprang from the earth's surface.  And, He actually walked on this earth... even before He became man, He socialized with Adam and Eve on a daily basis.

"Mine is the sunlight!  Mine is the morning

born of the one light Eden saw play!

Praise with elation, praise every morning,

God's recreation of the new day!"

Let's join with the birds and praise His holy name.  In Luke 19:40, it says, "Jesus answered... 'if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out.'"  Who is louder in their praise today?  You or the nature around you?

Jesus loves *****

A few weeks ago, we were watching two of our little granddaughters and I was getting ready to sing to them before bedtime. Amie, the older of the two, requested "Jesus", Amie (or so I thought) so I asked her if she wanted to hear "Jesus Loves Me"? She shook her head yes and then I asked if she wanted to sing with me and she also shook her head yes. So, as I started singing, and she was not, I kept asking her about singing but now she was saying no. So, I thought, ok... maybe she's planning on joining on the chorus.

I got to "Yes, Jesus loves me..." and she said, "no, Amie". So, I stopped and, once again, asked if she wanted to sing with me. She said no. This happened a few times and now there were tears along with it... I was so confused... I finally moved on to a different song and she seemed to be ok so I chalked it up to a little girl being tired.

Well, last week, their mommy and daddy brought home a baby brother and, during the week, mommy mentioned that Amie had been singing "Jesus loves Gordie".... Wow! Talk about senior moments! Why didn't grandma get it several weeks ago! "Jesus loves Amie!!!" Live and learn, right?  "Jesus loves, insert name here... Now the only difficult part is, when you have three (or more) grand babies on your lap, whose name do you insert into the song? I mean, after all, Jesus loves all of us, grandmas included. I guess I should switch my bedtime song to "Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world..." I could insert several names into that one.

"Yes, Jesus loves *****. Yes, Jesus loves *****. Yes, Jesus loves *****. The Bible tells me so."

Joy to the World

Obviously, this post was meant to appear before Christmas but I always use my iPad for creating and posting to my blog and I kept getting an error message each time I tried posting.  So, for those of you who may have been missing me, I think I finally got the new Blogger changes figured out and, as a test, I'm once again trying to post something that hit me before Christmas because, after all, the joy of the Christmas season should truly last all year long:

As we prepare for the Christmas celebration, are we preparing our hearts for the King?  Last night, during a time of worship, we sang the first stanza of "Joy to the World" and then the song changed to...

"Joy, unspeakable, joy!

An overflowing well..."

And I kept getting the words backward, singing...

"Joy, unspeakable, joy!

An overwhelming flow..."

But isn't it almost the same?  Not really... An overflowing well can happen slowly, even with a constant drip or dribble, but the joy we can experience, the joy that comes from a relationship with Jesus is more like an overwhelming flow, the kind of overflow that comes from a torrential rain.  It's constant and steady... Joy that makes your heart sing even when the life around you is in total chaos.  Doesn't that sound more like the joy you would want to experience?

"No more let sins and sorrows grow, nor thorns infest the ground;

He comes to make His blessings flow..."

Isn't that a beautiful promise?  In John 14:27, Jesus said, "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you."  When Jesus gives us peace, he replaces other emotions with joy... Again, doesn't this sound like something you want to experience?  You can... All we need do is ask... Ask and you shall receive... Come to Jesus today, lay your sorrows and burdens at His feet and let Him fill your heart with Joy.

"Joy to the world! The Lord has come; Let earth receive her King;

Let every heart prepare Him room, And heaven and nature sing..."

Surrendered to Jesus

Our church and LifeGroup have been studying the book, "Not a Fan".   We are learning about surrender.  Luke 9:23 says, "If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me".  Basically, we need to be so devoted to following Christ that we think of nothing as more important than being with Him and doing His will... Even to the point that we are ready to die because of our association with Him.

So, this morning, while reading, I started thinking of Surrender and what better song to think of than, "I Surrender All". right?  Well, maybe not... I pulled out my hymnal and this is what I read: 

All to Jesus I surrender all to Him I freely give;

I will ever love and trust Him, in His presence daily live.

Ok, that's a good start but then the other 2 verses go on:

All to Jesus I surrender, make me Savior wholly Thine; 

Let me feel your Holy Spirit, truly know that thou art mine.

All to Jesus I surrender, Lord, I give myself to Thee;

Fill me with Thy love and power, Let Thy blessing fall on me.

Wait a minute, we went straight from surrender to feelings.  The part of the book I was just reading was talking about a "Snuggie Theology"... How much more "comfortable" can we get?

But, when I went to open my hymnal, it fell open to a bookmarked page (which just happened to be the next song after, "I Surrender All") and that hymn is, "Living for Jesus".  Here's what it says:

Living for Jesus a life that is true, Striving to please Him in all that I do, 

Yielding allegiance glad hearted and free, this is the pathway of blessing for me.

Living for Jesus who died in my place, bearing on Calv'ry my sin and disgrace, 

Such love constrains me to answer His call, follow His leading and give Him my all.

Living for Jesus thru earth's little while, my dearest treasure, the light of His smile, 

Seeking the lost ones He died to redeem, bringing  the weary to find rest in Him.

Do you see the difference?  Yes, we are called to surrender but we aren't called to just lie on the alter and bask in His glory (which is good at times but not ALL the time).  No, after we surrender, we must strive, seek, and follow.  Striving isn't just trying, striving is putting your whole back into the effort and living isn't just sitting in a pew, it's daily doing everything that the Spirit calls you to do.   

Also, the verse in Luke doesn't just say surrender and follow but DAILY... Every Day we need to lay down our lives, our desires, our goals and personal dreams and take up our cross and follow Him.

So, today, hear God's Word.  Deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Him.

Contentment

This post was actually written a few weeks ago and I just realized I had never posted it...

Waking this morning, I was still consumed with the work issues that have been eating away at me for the past two years.  Why would my employer hire someone to manage the database that I've been designing and manipulating and then, why would they blindly follow him to throw money away on a new system that doesn't do half of what was basic on the current system?

The Lord quickly reminded me that the things on my mind are things of this world.  In the end, none of it will matter.  And, as a matter of fact, it's not the most important thing in my life.

Our small group Bible study is currently going through the video/book study, "Not a Fan", and I realized that, as a follower of Jesus, the only things I need to be concerned about when it comes to work are;  1) Being a good witness, 2)  doing my best as if I'm working for The Lord, and 3)  have an attitude of thankfulness and contentment.

Ok, so these were already my thoughts going from sleep to morning devotions and what was the devotion this morning?  Matthew 20:1-16, the story of the land owner who continued to hire workers throughout the day and, at the end of the day, paid them all the same.  The moral of the story... Lesson learned... There's nothing to complain about... The resources belong to the landowner and he can do with them as he pleases.

Don't worry, yes, I get the more significant spiritual meaning of the story and, honestly, that has never been an issue for me.  I do think it's sad when an older person accepts Christ shortly before death, not because I begrudge them entering God's glory or receiving the same level of mercy and grace that I have received but because they've missed all of the blessings that could have been theirs had they received Christ sooner.  

But, this morning, the message my heart needed was this... This world is not my home so quit worrying about the temporal and keep my eyes on Jesus.  

Today's devotion (from "Our Daily Bread) ended with this prayer and quote - let it be my prayer today and constant reminder:

Lord, I admit that my focus at times gets drawn
to others and what they have. Forgive me and
help me to stop grumbling. You are good to me
and provide what I need. Thank You. Amen.

All you need to know to be content is this: God is good.

Out of the Ivory Palaces

Have you ever stopped to think of the sacrifices Jesus made for us?  If you haven't thought about it lately, read Revelation 21:9-22:5 where it describes the new Jerusalem or Revelation 4 which describes the "Throne Room of Heaven".   

When we talk about the sacrifice of Jesus, we typically think of the cross and, yes, that is the ultimate sacrifice but Jesus' sacrifice actually began 33 years prior to the cross and lasted those 33 years.  Think about it... Jesus sits in a beautiful throne room surrounded by those who worship Him, yet He chose to leave all that glory to live like you and me... To face the hardships, heartache, and disease that we face and then, yes, He faced death head on for you and me. 

How very precious that makes me feel... That God would give His only Son AND that Jesus would willingly come to earth and die for my sins... Sins that I commit on a daily basis without one thought of the sacrifices made.  Oh how He loves you and me!

Out of the ivory palaces,
Into a world of woe,
Only His great eternal love
Made my Savior go.

You're not Alone

This past week, with the focus on Labor Day, there were a lot of studies and devotions on how Christians should feel about work.  In fact, timing was perfect in our study of "The Truth Project" (from Focus on the Family), as we watched video lesson #11 on "Labor" the Wednesday before Labor Day weekend.

Through all these studies, it's been brought home to me that 1) work is a privilege and 2) no matter who my employer, I work for God and His glory.  Even with these reminders, it's hard to sit at my desk at times... There are so many other things I'd like to be doing.  There are so many distractions.

Another study that we've been getting into lately is "Not a Fan". My husband heard about this book from a co-worker and, after reading just a portion, ordered the study material.  He was thinking of how/when to introduce it to our small group when we found out that our church is going to be going through it together this fall.

"Not a Fan" poses the question, "Are you a follower of Jesus?" And, a prevalent question from "The Truth Project" is, "Do you really believe that what you really believe is really real?".

There are times in every Christian walk when we ask ourselves these questions.  Doubt creeps in and we find ourselves questioning our faith, our motives, our purpose in life.

So with all these thoughts running through my head, I started thinking, "Wow, we really need to be prayer warriors for our pastors.". I mean, think about it... What would happen if our pastor fell into a slump... If he woke one Sunday morning thinking, "I don't really feel like going to work today.". Or worse, if he started doubting that he was being used of God.  Or even worse yet, started doubting his faith all together?

We need to stand in the gap for our pastors... Holding up their arms, if you will.  (see Exodus 17:9-15 for reference).

Tonight's song?  "You're not Alone" by Meredith Andrews.  It talks about how God is always with us and He is, but sometimes we just need that extra prayer of a like-minded believer.

Here is the chorus:

Faithful and true, Forever,

Oh my love will carry you.

You're not alone, For I am here,

Let me wipe away your every fear.

Oh yeah, My love I've never left your side.

I have seen you through the darkest night, 

Your darkest night,

And I'm the one who's loved you all your life.