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A Mornings View

And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and rewards those who earnestly seek Him. Hebrews 11:6

The heavens call out to me this morning. They sing a chorus over the darkened land

Their song shouts forth the glory of their place in the heavens above and speaks in quiet praise of the wonder of God’s creation

What joy I feel to see the stars and planets sparkling. How awesome to watch the smiling sliver of the moon poking up just above the horizon. The sun is chasing it, not far behind. Reflected light from earth illuminates the dim circle of its face

Great is our God who made all of this, He is wise beyond all the capabilities of our mind. By His power with a Word, He swung all this into motion. What wondrous things He has done

Our world is set amidst this endless creation. We have been cast as a grain of sand into the vastness of this place

How blessed am I to see all this beauty today, to ponder the width and depth of all God has made and to see its power, depth, and glory

It’s amazing that we have just begun to explore this space around us

Our ships have sailed out across the solar system

Our feet have walked upon the dusty surface of the moon

Our eyes have looked out across nearly 14 billion light years of space and seen to near the beginning of all we know that is

But God knows infinitely more

I wonder about our future here on this planet, can we somehow overcome our frailties?

Will our species grow more compassionate and loving towards each other, so we don’t mess up our chances for survival or a good outcome

For we are self-centered creatures, prone to greed and war. We have learned many amazing things, but have failed to solve the most difficult problems of our times

Our God looks down from the heavens above. He sees and knows what lies within us and offers us the wisdom of His Word and Spirit; the grace and mercy of His salvation, He freely gives

Will we truly acknowledge Him and go before Him in faith this day?

Oh, the beauty and wonder of God’s creation, what an incredible place He has made

Our Earth was formed by the strength and will of His hands and we were brought forth here, as His children

Our problems, which we have created, are rising above our heads. They threaten are very existence, but with God, we have the promise of a future

When we connect with Him, the creator of all that is, we will see and know that every good answer resides in Him.  11/30/20

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Shine Gods Light…

In the same way, let your light shine before everyone, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. Matthew 5:16

Give thanks to the Lord our God, lift up praises unto His name, for He is continually good and loving towards us

We have been given this life.

As like the sun we rise in our morning. By the grace of God, we shine in brightness at our noon hour, yet eventually we come to the end of our day and set below the horizon, and there, all our life shines forth like the color of a magical sunset

Beautiful and mysterious are our lives, Each one is a gift to be treasured, an opportunity to reflect the love and brilliance of our creator

Never dim the light that God has put in you. Don’t shade it because of doubts or fear. Allow as many particles of His light as possible to shine through you, so that the light of His love and truth can encourage others

We are living spirits cast in earthen clay, designed by a blueprint called by our name. A marvelous collection of matter and energy interacts within us during our lifetime, it helps make us who we are

Give thanks to our God for this opportunity to live. May we always give Him praise and our blessing for this incredible gift

For no matter what may happen along our path through life, whether it is for our good or is seemingly bad, all that matters is that He gets the glory.

For the sum of everything created is far less amazing than our glorious creator

Give thanks, fill your life with a spirit of thanksgiving, for you are alive in this time and this place

Our God, who has known you since the beginning of time, brought you here. Why? That is for you to find out

We all must work out our own path towards salvation. The quality of our faith must be forged through our own relationship with God

What we do with the light of His Spirit through the words and truth that He reveals unto us, is to shine forth His light into a darkened world

So that there might be hope where there once was no hope and that love might abound, where only hate and anger once ruled. So that goodness and mercy might break down the walls of doubt, injustice, and corruption; and above all, that God might be magnified and His glory revealed

Life is truly an amazing adventure. It is much more than it seems

For after God shines His light upon us, we are changed. The life that we thought we had before fades before His brilliance and we begin to see anew the incredibly good and beautiful reason for life

Go before your God and praise Him. Pray a new prayer to Him this day

Soak in the light of His life, so that you may shine forth His light and goodness to all the world around you  11/25/2021

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Thanksgiving Offering

Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise; give thanks to Him and praise His name. Psalm 100:4

Consider this day, what you should offer your God. What would be an acceptable gift, for one so great and mighty

What could He possibly need?

For God created all the heavens and the earth. He owns it all, there is nothing that is not His

All the world we live in lies within the palm of His hand. It is His creation. There’s not a single atom within this planet He does not own. All that live upon it were born from His will

He gave breath and life to all who dwell here, both plant and animal, microbe, and fungi

The God of all made the stars that dwell in the sky, He crafted their forms and gave rise to their clusters. He moved His arm and they swirled into galaxies, the courses they take were charted by Him from the beginning. Our God owns them all

What could we offer such a mighty God, who owns each of our lives, who gave us our breath, our life, our body, our heart, and our soul?

He has blessed us with our life, may we revere Him all of our days

In beauty and in death, in triumph and in our struggles, through health and during illness, with our richness and in our want, He stands with us, as our maker and our God

How could we not give thanks for the goodness of His creation and for all the things that He has blessed us with throughout our lives

What is life if we don’t recognize His place in the order of things?

We have riches and opportunities available that we have not seen yet. We have His Word and His Spirit to direct us so that we might live in all fullness of life

We have our families and friends and a great multitude of believers all around us, who He gave to us

They bless us, and He gives us many opportunities to bless them, so that love would abound. Yet, God’s love surpasses all

For He gave us hope in the form of His Son, Jesus Christ. In Him He provided the map that leads off to eternity so that we might dwell with God forever

He Himself has given us this all. Should we not give to Him by His own example?

Give thanks and live out His gift of love that flows through you with all your mind, body, soul, and strength. It is our only true means of offering something of value to Him.   9/8/2021

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The Wonder of Water

All streams flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full. To the place from where streams come, there they return again. Ecc 1:6

There is something beautiful about watching a river flow into the sea. To see them, born in mountains high and distant, rushing into the vastness of the oceans of our earth

What stories could those waters tell?

How many lives did they touch along the way?

Who thanked the river for the countless blessings it gave as it crossed their land?

Water is a miracle. It is the magic substance that all of life depends on, the stuff that we are made of

Earth is set apart from everything else we see in the universe by its water. It’s what makes this planet full of an abundance of life

Water is the solution that allows us to exist. All the millions of processes happening in us every second, occur only because of its incredible qualities

Its chemical properties are amazingly varied and unique. Water dissolves, transports, adheres, oxidizes, reduces, blends, and mixes. It flows, floats in the air, and becomes like a rock when it’s cold

It can gently wash the dust from a leaf, or, split solid rock and wear down mountains

On Earth it is ever present and life giving. All of life relies on its life sustaining properties

God has created an incredible world for us to live in. He has made this watery place filled with great abundance. It exists in a perfect balance of temperature, gravity, and mix of elements that ebb and flow, supporting this miracle we call life

Give thanks, be in awe of this wonder created by His hands. consider the wonder of water and its beauty; the power of the ocean when a storm has stirred it, when it creates mountainous waves of awesome power

Remember the beauty of a waterfall cascading over cliffs, the roar of rapids in a river at flood stage; the towering summits of thunderstorms white against the sky that pour flooding torrents of rainfall upon the land beneath

How beautiful to watch a river meet the sea, to observe it completing a cycle that gives life to all it touches

How distressing then, is it to see scarcity and pollution. Of lack, that has caused great suffering across this world

To see the flash floods and rising seas that threaten so many, or to hear about pollution that we have dumped into our precious waters; poison that has stricken many who have no choice in the matter

All these tragedies are of our own making, caused by a warming climate and the runaway waste of industry. Propagated by selfish and cost centered decisions that value wealth above our health

Water, one of God’s most miraculous substances is being defiled and altered

As we raise the earths temperature and reduce the quality of our waters, we place all life into increasing peril

God has made us responsible for what we do here within His glorious creation. It is up to us to clean up our waste and give honor to Him and regard all that dwells within His world

Consider, this day, what we are doing to our waters. Thank God for the wonder of its existence, then make a difference with your life.  11/12/2021

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Come Worship Our God

Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker, for He is our God and we are the people of His pasture, the flock under His care. Psalms 95:6-7

Give thanks to the Lord and praise His name, for you have been cleansed of all iniquity and your lives, restored

Lift up your voices to heaven, sing loud and strong unto Him, for we have been redeemed and given unending hope

He alone has saved us by snatching our lives from the fire. In our own power we could do nothing, but He looked upon us with favor and pardoned every sin

What joy! sing aloud! We have the promise of life forever

Give thanks, for He is worthy. Never forget, for He has given us every good blessing

Cast off your fears, He has overcome them. Lift up your hearts to Him. Return to God again and again and worship Him with love and a genuine heart for He has done what no one could do.

Oh faithful God of unending beauty and grace, we throw ourselves at Your feet. In awe with gratitude, we praise You, for we who were sick are now healed

We love You God, for You have done incredible things for us. You have filled us with the Spirit of truth and made our wretched lives sound

God, You have made each day new, and although everything around us is unstable, You remain true

We sing praises to You, oh Lord, we worship Your holy name; we sing out with joy and in love, for You are an amazing God

Oh what joy You bring and peace to our stricken hearts. We lift up our praises only to You, our Lord

We worship with all our strength, for You have healed us. When we had no hope, You came and raised us back to life.  1/15/2011

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A Glimpse of Light

In Him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood. John 1:4-5

Our Lord, I pray to You that I may see a glimpse of Your light

Light that shines brightly like through a tear in a dark veil

May this light gain new footholds in me, shining in all the shadow places of my soul and cleanse out what is poor and dirty

Replacing that with what is cleansed and upright

Though I sometimes pull the blinds and close my ears, allow me to hear now, oh Lord

Let me see again Your fresh light, and hear the soft Words that guide my path

A first writing of my prayers… April 1991

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Our God Rescues

I sought the Lord, and He answered me; He delivered me from all my fears. Psalms 34:4

Give thanks, all you who believe in the Lord, for He is good, and powerful to rescue those who trust in Him

Let everyone who has faith, offer thanksgiving to our God, because He has redeemed us from every trouble and from the sentence of death

He has rescued us from our wandering and given us a home within His Kingdom by His power and mercy

Some of us were found lost in deserts of despair, sentenced to dwell in hardship because of the poor choices they made

There, they had stumbled and found themselves lost, thirsting for a redemption from all that they were suffering from

They called out to Him in their anguish and our God answered them. He picked them back up on their feet and led them from despair

God brought them to a place of goodness and light and gave them hope instead of futility, mercy in place of the punishment they deserved for their actions

Let those who believe give thanks to the Lord for He is good

He delivered them from those dark times when hope became distant

Give thanks to The Lord for His unfailing love and for His great gifts of deliverance

Some were found in prisons, either literally or figuratively. They sat there behind bars, in chains, left to suffer a cruel punishment. Day after miserable day they dwelled in boredom and hardship, their very lives threatened by the dangers that lurked around them

When they cried out to their God in truth and in faith, He listened and drew near to them

At first, He gave them glimmers of hope, but then, as they continued to live a life of faith and humility before Him, He began to release them from their distress, Bringing them out of the darkness and deepest gloom, into the light of life

Let them give thanks to Him for His unfailing love, for He opened the most impenetrable doors and cut through bars of hardened steel

Some found themselves stranded in dangerous and difficult places threatened by situations that might injure or even end their life. Disasters, wars, crimes, accidents, mistakes, illness, and disease; People at the end of the line, clinging to life, in need of a savior

Some who were wise, reached out to their God. They cried out to Him for rescue, remedy, or a life rope of some kind. There, they prayed a prayer of deliverance

Then our faithful God came and rescued them from the grave, He reached out His hand, and snatched them from peril

God acts to save us every time from the troubles we face in life, because He is a God of love, forgiveness, and mercy

Let us all give thanks and consider the great love of our Lord.   10/30/2021

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Simple Instructions

Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love… Ephesians 5:1-2

Give praise to the Lord, for He is good. His blessings are greater than our understanding

Seek Him at the beginning of each day and pray to Him in faith and in honesty, so that you may walk before Him cleansed of all iniquity

Align your life with His will,  so that our God may produce good works through you

Be thankful, for He has given you everything. Even your precious life, here in this time and place

Seek the Lord, and he will be found.

Give unto Him, and He will give unto you

Praise Him, and He will inspire others to praise you

Earnestly work at fulfilling His call for you, and He will reward you in Spirit and life

Bless those who follow after our God and He will remember you each day. For our God is good

By His wisdom, He created all there is. His power extends throughout the universe and dwells inside every particle within His limitless reach

He is glorious, magnificent, ever loving, His way adds life unto our days

Therefore, make straight your path before Him,  be diligent in your efforts,  use His wisdom and adhere to His truths. Align your life with His will as an offering to your God and creator

Feed upon His Word

Breath in His Spirit

Drink from the cool sweet waters of His wisdom and you will understand the reason for your life

Our God is good, He loves and cares for His children

A life set in His pattern and taught by His Word, will flourish and grow strong

Give abundant praise to our God, for He has shown us the way, the truth, and the light that leads unto life    6/22/19

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Faith

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. Ephesians 2:8-9

Faith is a both a living and active force in our life. It swells within us as we begin to believe in God and grows stronger as we come to trust in His Word, realize His great love for us, and begin to experience His grace and forgiveness

Sometimes, when we first come to believe, He fills us to the brim as His Spirit flows into us. It overwhelms our consciousness with an abiding sense of His presence. With His Spirit comes a knowledge of God’s truth, goodness, and love

As we come to know these things, we place our full trust in Him. Even during those difficult days of unending pressures and doubt, we can harken back to our faith in Him, to the truth of His Word, and sense His love, and then we are assured that God is good, and that He loves us without measure

No believer is immune to those days when we don’t feel God near us. Reach then into your toolbox and select a time for prayer, read a chapter in the Bible, or praise Him for something good in your life. Acknowledge Him in everything that you are given in life

Faith is both a living and active force in our life. It is an adventure we must take each day and precious beyond any earthly measure

That is why we cannot allow ourselves to store our faith in a safe place. We can’t keep it locked up like a treasure in our safety deposit box. Like we would with a piece of jewelry, or an important document

Faith is something that must live and breathe. It is active by nature, a reaching out to God, a quiet conversation with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, or a living out of His truth and goodness in our lives before the world

Faith is precious, it is real, it must be lived out in the moments of our life

Faith can be quiet in a moment of prayer, or, sometimes a bold and loud profession of faith in sermon or song. It can be our day-to-day soundtrack, our inner conversation, a calm response

But it is never present when we lock it away

Life in these times is full of distractions. There are a million pressing things that surround us each day that can distract us away from our faith and leave us empty

Faith cannot exist in us if we lock it in our safety deposit box. It cannot link us with our God, if we set it aside so that we deal with something, or focus on what is demanding our immediate attention now

How many times do these things take over our days and nights, so that we lose sight of Him, and get cast adrift in worries and stress?

Faith is not a natural part of this world we live in. It is the light and life that connects us with the God of the universe

Faith takes effort sometimes to continually come back to Him and acknowledge His presence and imminence within all that happens

It is vitally important for every believer, because it makes real our friendship we have with our creator and opens all the possibilities that He so generously offers, so that we might live a full and realized life for all our days.   9/20/2021

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Our Home, Earth

Blessed are all those who dwell in Your house; they are forever praising You.    Psalms 84:4

Blessed are we who live in this sanctuary called Earth, and those able to see and experience all its boundless wonders

It is of God’s own making, and He made it exceedingly well

How fortunate is the family of mankind to dwell in this house, and to have been born into this place of beauty and comfort

It is a temple of God’s creation fashioned for us to live in, along with all the multitudes of life

Blessed is the entire family of plants and creatures that dwells here. We are all a part of earth’s character, born of this creation

Each of us are linked together as a family in this world, sprouting forth on the surface of this planet

We are cast into orbit around our star, the Sun;

Lost among a million stars, but not unknown, as we swirl within our Milky Way

And rise outward, along with an untold numbers of other galaxies, within this universe of unsearchable length, depth, and time

It is all His making

It is all that we know of

Even if we could think of what lies beyond the distant boundaries of all we know, He would be there, as its creator and as it’s Spirit

Blessed are we who have life, how lucky indeed, are we to experience this miracle and see, touch, and feel all the wonders that life allows

Praise God, for His infinitely grand creation. Commend Him, for this crazy thing called life. It exists here on earth in all its incredible depth and complexity

Glorify our God, because we have life amidst this beautiful world

Life is precious, it is fragile, and exceedingly rare. There is no other place that we know of where it even exists

We believe some simple primitive forms may possibly live somewhere else, but we have not seen them yet, despite all our searching

The universe is wondrous, but it is also an exceedingly harsh place, to find somewhere else that is as soft and hospitable as earth may never happen

How far away will such a place be if one even exists?

God sent His own Son into this place as a gift to Earth’s current apex species, so that we might not die, as every form of life eventually does, but that we might have eternal life

And so that we could have a pathway through faith in Jesus Christ to live on past our present life, the miracle that it is, and live in the presence of God, the very maker of all we know that exists

It begins through faith in Him who made us and by our love and praise for all that He has done

It comes by glorifying Our God and His Son through the very expression of our life

For He is worthy, because there is nothing that is greater than Him

Praise God for His creation and for the gift of salvation through our faith in Him.  9/17/2021