“As the hart panteth after the waterbrooks, so panteth my soul after Thee, O God.” ~Psalm 42:1

“Singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.” ~Ephesians 5:19

LORD, make my heart a place where angels sing!
For surely thoughts low–breathed by Thee
Are angels gliding near on noiseless wings;
And where a home they see
Swept clean, and garnished with adoring joy,
They enter in and dwell,
And teach that heart to swell
With heavenly melody, their own untired employ.
JOHN KEBLE

LET your heart and desires continually hold converse with God, in heartfelt simplicity.

Reflect on Him with feelings of love and reverence, and often offer up your heart, with all that you have and are, to Him, in spirit and in truth, as cordially and sincerely as possible.

If through weakness or unfaithfulness you forsake this exercise, which is so incredibly helpful and beautiful, all you have to do is, meekly and heartily to begin again; and do not be weary of it, although in the beginning you may not find any great advantage from it, or make any rapid progress in it. It is not true that such a mode of life is hard; it is easy and pleasant to the spirit, and becomes in due time like a heaven upon earth. A little patience and courage alone are needed. ~ GERHARD TERSTEEGEN

~ Classics: Joy and Strength by Mary Wilder Tileston

The Lord Upholds My Life

“Behold, God is my helper; the Lord is the upholder of my life.”

~ a verse from Psalm 54

Waiting and Over-Waiting by Mrs. Charles E. Cowman.
“I have begun to give;….begin to possess” (Deut. 2:31).

A great deal is said in the Bible about waiting for God. The lesson cannot be too strongly enforced. We easily grow impatient of God’s delays. Much of our trouble in life comes out of our restless, sometimes reckless, haste.

We cannot wait for the fruit to ripen, but insist on plucking it while it is green.

We cannot wait for the answers to our prayers, although the things we ask for may require long years in their preparation for us. We are exhorted to walk with God; but ofttimes God walks very slowly.

But there is another phase of the lesson. God often waits for us.

We fail many times to receive the blessing He has ready for us, because we do not go forward with Him. While we miss much good through not waiting for God, we also miss much through over-waiting. There are times when our strength is to sit still, but there are also times when we are to go forward with a firm step.

There are many Divine promises which are conditioned upon the beginning of some action on our part. When we begin to obey, God will begin to bless us. Great things were promised to Abraham, but not one of them could have been obtained by waiting in Chaldea. He must leave home, friends, and country, and go out into unknown paths and press on in unfaltering obedience in order to receive the promises. The ten lepers were told to show themselves to the priest, and “as they went they were cleansed.” If they had waited to see the cleansing come in their flesh before they would start, they would never have seen it. God was waiting to cleanse them; and the moment their faith began to work, the blessing came.

When the Israelites were shut in by a pursuing army at the Red Sea, they were commanded to “Go forward.” Their duty was no longer one of waiting, but of rising up from bended knees and going forward in the way of heroic faith. They were commanded to show their faith at another time by beginning their march over the Jordan while the river ran to its widest banks. The key to unlock the gate into the Land of Promise they held in their own hands, and the gate would not turn on its hinges until they had approached it and unlocked it.

That key was faith. We are set to fight certain battles. We say we can never be victorious; that we never can conquer these enemies; but, as we enter the conflict, One comes and fights by our side, and through Him we are more than conquerors. If we had waited, trembling and fearing, for our Helper to come before we would join the battle, we should have waited in vain. This would have been the over-waiting of unbelief.
God is waiting to pour richest blessings upon you. Press forward with bold confidence and take what is yours. “I have begun to give, begin to possess.” –J. R. Miller

~ Streams in the Desert /// January 27

“I waited patiently for the LORD; he inclined to me and heard my cry.
He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure.
He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the LORD.
Blessed is the man who makes the LORD his trust, who does not turn to the proud, to those who go astray after a lie!
You have multiplied, O LORD my God, your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us;

none can compare with you!

I will proclaim and tell of them, yet they are more than can be told.

Then I said, “Behold, I have come; in the scroll of the book it is written of me:

I delight to do your will, O my God;

your law is within my heart.”

~ verses from Psalm 40

“When it pleased God . . .” – Galatians 1:15

As servants of God, we must learn to make room for Him-to give God “elbow room.” We plan and figure and predict that this or that will happen, but we forget to make room for God to come in as He chooses. . .

Do not look for God to come in a particular way, but do look for Him. The way to make room for Him is to expect Him to come,

but not in a certain way.

No matter how well we may know God, the great lesson to learn is that He may break in at any minute. We tend to overlook this element of surprise, yet God never works in any other way.

Suddenly—God meets our life “. . . when it pleased God . . . .”

Keep your life so constantly in touch with God that His surprising power can break through at any point. Live in a constant state of expectancy, and leave room for God to come in as He decides.

~ My Utmost for His Highest /// January 25

“Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.” – Psalm 23:4

“In times of special danger or doubt, when human judgment has seemed to be set at naught, I have found it easy to go forward with this staff,

“In quietness and confidence shall be your strength.”

And in emergencies, when there has seemed to be no adequate time for deliberation or for action, I have never found that this staff has failed me,

“He that believeth shall not make haste.”

–Benjamin Vaughan Abbott, in The Outlook”

“God always sends His staff with His rod.”

Each of us may be sure that if God sends us on stony paths He will provide us with strong shoes, and He will not send us out on any journey for which He does not equip us well. –Maclaren
~ Streams in the Desert /// January 25

A Very Present Help
“Why standest thou afar off, O Lord?” (Psalm 10:1)

God is “a very present help in trouble.” But He permits trouble to pursue us, as though He were indifferent to its overwhelming pressure, that we may be brought to the end of ourselves, and led to discover the treasure of darkness, the immeasurable gains of tribulation. We may be sure that

He who permits the suffering is with us in it.

It may be that we shall see Him only when the trial is passing; but we must dare to believe that He never leaves the crucible. Our eyes are holden; and we cannot behold Him whom our soul loveth. It is dark–the bandages blind us so that we cannot see the form of our High Priest; but He is there, deeply touched.

Let us not rely on feeling,

but on faith in His unswerving fidelity; and though we see Him not, let us talk to Him.  Directly we begin to speak to Jesus, as being literally present, though His presence is veiled, there comes an answering voice which shows that He is in the shadow, keeping watch upon His own. Your Father is as near when you journey through the dark tunnel as when under the open heaven! –Daily Devotional Commentary

“What though the path be all unknown?

What though the way be drear?

Its shades I traverse not alone

When steps of Thine are near.”

~ Streams in the Desert /// January 23

Walk in Radical Obedience

“Jesus said ‘if you love Me, you will obey Me’.

“Your obedience to God’s Word in your life is the most important step in fulfilling your destiny and finding His blessing.

Obedience is not always an easy task. The choice of obedience can make you nervous, uncomfortable and even unpopular with others.

However your decision to obey the Holy Spirit’s leading in your life on a daily basis is your platform to true success. . .

Noah chose to obey God despite never seeing rain. Abraham chose to obey God and took Isaac to the point of sacrifice until God stepped in. . .

Your obedience is the greatest expression of your love for God.”

thnx glo! =)

“Learn to shut yourself away in My Presence – and then, without speaking, you have those things you desire of Me, Strength – Power – Joy – Riches.”

“He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High
shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.” (Psalm 91:1)

~ God Calling /// January 23

“So be content with who you are, and don’t put on airs.  God’s strong hand is on you; He’ll promote you at the right time.  Live carefree before God (casting all your anxieties on Him); He is most careful with you.”

~ from the First Letter of Peter

He Has Overcome the World

“None of these things move me” (Acts20:24).

We read in the book of Samuel that the moment that David was crowned at Hebron,

“All the Philistines came up to seek David.” And the moment we get anything from the Lord worth contending for, then the devil comes to seek us.

When the enemy meets us at the threshold of any great work for God, let us accept it as “a token of salvation,” and claim double blessing, victory, and power. Power is developed by resistance. The cannon carries twice as far because the exploding power has to find its way through resistance. The way electricity is produced in the powerhouse yonder is by the sharp friction of the revolving wheels. And so we shall find some day that even Satan has been one of God’s agencies of blessing. –Days of Heaven upon Earth

A hero is not fed on sweets,

Daily his own heart he eats;

Chambers of the great are jails,

And head winds right for royal sails.

–Emerson

Tribulation is the way to triumph. The valley-way opens into the highway. Tribulation’s imprint is on all great things. Crowns are cast in crucibles. Chains of character that wind about the feet of God are forged in earthly flames. No man is greatest victor till he has trodden the winepress of woe. With seams of anguish deep in His brow, the “Man of Sorrows” said, “In the world ye shall have tribulation”–but after this sob comes the psalm of promise, “Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” The footprints are traceable everywhere. Bloodmarks stain the steps that lead to thrones. Sears are the price of sceptres. Our crowns will be wrested from the giants we conquer. Grief has always been the lot of greatness. It is an open secret.

“The mark of rank in nature.

Is capacity for pain;

And the anguish of the singer

Makes the sweetest of the strain.”

Tribulation has always marked the trail of the true reformer. It is the story of Paul, Luther, Savonarola, Knox, Wesley, and all the rest of the mighty army. They came through great tribulation to their place of power.

Every great book has been written with the author’s blood. “These are they that have come out of great tribulation.” Who was the peerless poet of the Greeks? Homer. But that illustrious singer was blind. Who wrote the fadeless dream of “Pilgrim’s Progress”? A prince in royal purple upon a couch of ease? Nay! The trailing splendour of that vision gilded the dingy walls of old Bedford jail while John Bunyan, a princely prisoner, a glorious genius, made a faithful transcript of the scene.

Great is the facile conqueror;

Yet haply, he, who, wounded sore,

Breathless, all covered o’er with blood and sweat,

Sinks fainting, but fighting evermore

Is greater yet.

~ Streams in the Desert /// January 21

“When the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, horror and great darkness fell upon him.” Chapter 15 of the first book, Genesis

Whenever God gives a vision to a Christian, it is as if He puts him in “the shadow of His hand” (Isaiah 49:2). The saint’s duty is to be still and listen. There is a “darkness” that comes from too much light-that is the time to listen. . .

When God gives you a vision and darkness follows, wait. God will bring the vision He has given you to reality in your life if you will wait on His timing. Never try to help God fulfill His word. Abram went through thirteen years of silence, but in those years all of his self-sufficiency was destroyed. He grew past the point of relying on his own common sense.

Those years of silence were a time of discipline, not a period of God’s displeasure. There is never any need to pretend that your life is filled with joy and confidence; just wait upon God and be grounded in Him (see Isaiah 50:10-11).

Do I trust at all in the flesh? Or have I learned to go beyond all confidence in myself and other people of God? Do I trust in books and prayers or other joys in my life? Or have I placed my confidence in God Himself, not in His blessings? “I am Almighty God . . .”— El-Shaddai, the All-Powerful God (Genesis 17:1).

The reason we are all being disciplined is that we will know God is real. As soon as God becomes real to us, people pale by comparison, becoming shadows of reality. Nothing that other saints do or say can ever upset the one who is built on God.”

~ Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest

“I had never planned to be a pastor, never was aware of any inclination to be a pastor, never ‘knew what I was going to be when I grew up.’ And then – at the time it seemed to arrive abruptly – there it was: Pastor.

I can’t imagine now not being a pastor.  I was a pastor long before I knew I was a pastor; I just never had a name for it.  Once the name arrived, all kinds of things, seemingly random experiences and memories, gradually began to take a form that was congruent with who I was becoming, like finding a glove that fit my hand perfectly – a calling, a fusion of all the pieces of my life, a vocation: Pastor.

But it took awhile.”

“Pastor. . . the person placed in the community to pay attention and call attention to ‘what is going on right now’ between men and women, with one another and with God- this kingdom of God that is primarily local, relentlessly personal, and prayerful ‘without ceasing.’”

“A witness is never the center but only the person who points to or names what is going on at the center.”

“William Faulkner was once asked how he went about writing a book.  His answer: ‘It’s like building a chicken coop in a high wind.  You grab any board or shingle flying by or loose on the ground and nail it down fast.’ Like becoming a pastor.”

~ Eugene Peterson, The Pastor (Author of The Message)