The Pocket Book of Prayers

This has been a great little book edited by Jim Palmer.

Disturb us, Lord, when

We are too well pleased with ourselves,

When our dreams have come true

Because we have dreamed too little,

When we arrived safely

Because we sailed too close to shore.

Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly,

To venture on wider seas

Where storms will show your mastery;

Where losing sight of land,

We shall find the stars.

We ask you to push back

The horizons of our hopes;

And to push into the future

In strength, courage, hope, and love.

Sir Francis Drake

God of your goodness,

give me yourself,

for you are sufficient for me....

If I were to ask anything less

I should always be in want,

for in you alone do I have all.

Julian of Norwich

Strike!

So today, I am dealing with an issue of "what the heck am I doing?" and is this where you want me, Lord? On a picket line, with my co-workers as we are on strike. This became effective Saturday evening at midnight. Yes, so I am reading one of my favourite blogs "Today at the Mission", and the blog is about a wedding attended. I feel a little out of sorts today in the same way only different, if you know what I mean. It isn't about the opulence or the surrealness of the whole thing....it is just a feeling of displacement, of not belonging amongst the throng of those who truly believe in their cause, and their work ethic and their long justifications and their real needs. Bottom line is we live a blessed life. It is hard to be a part of something and yet be separate. I don't doubt for a moment that this need for a strike is a very real need....I just can't get overly excited or interested in something that is beyond my understanding of where I am placed in this life....it is more than about the money....it is about touching the lives of every single person around me by being the vessel that Jesus would use. Is He able to use me here? I know He can in some way, but what a strange experience. I have worked at this job for a very long time..................this is my main means of support, not my second and more "meaningful" part-time job at the christian book store. :) I don't know... It was a tough day out there today in more ways than one....very warm and very loud and negative in a lot of ways. Let me sleep on this one tonight....ZZZzzzz

All Things....means all things!

A good quote for me today. From Today's Thought.

"You can't control the length of your life, but you can control its width and depth. You can't control the contour of your face, but you can control its expression. You can't control the weather, but you can control the atmosphere of your mind. Why worry about things you can't control when you can keep yourself busy controlling the things that depend on you?"

Unknown

With Philippians 4:13 in mind, of course.

" I have strength for all things in Christ Who empowers me [I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him Who infuses inner strength into me; I am self-sufficient in Christ's sufficiency]."

Amplified Bible

From Jim's Prayer Book

Dear Lord,

So far today I've done all right...

I haven't gossiped, lost my temper,

been greedy, grumpy, nasty,

selfish or over-indulgent.

I'm very thankful for that.

But in a few minutes, Lord,

I'm going to get out of bed,

and from then on,

I'm going to need a lot of help.

Author Unknown

check it out here

Two Great Sunday Thoughts

Oswald Chambers from My Utmost for His Highest

"The golden rule for your life and mine is this concentrated keeping of the life open towards God . . . The rush of other things always tends to obscure this concentration on God. . . Never be hurried out of the relationship of abiding in Him."

Tozer from That Incredible Christian

"It remains only to be said that worship as we have described it here is almost (though, thank God, not quite) a forgotten art in our day. For whatever we can say of modern Bible-believing Christians, it can hardly be denied that we are not remarkable for our spirit of worship. The gospel as preached by good men in our times may save souls, but it does not create worshipers.

Our meetings are characterized by cordiality, humor, affability, zeal and high animal spirits; but hardly anywhere do we find gatherings marked by the overshadowing presence of God. We manage to get along on correct doctrine, fast tunes, pleasing personalities and religious amusements.

How few, how pitifully few are the enraptured souls who languish for love of Christ....

If Bible Christianity is to survive the present world upheaval, we shall need to recapture the spirit of worship. We shall need to have a fresh revelation of the greatness of God and the beauty of Jesus. We shall need to put away our phobias and our prejudices against the deeper life and seek again to be filled with the Holy Spirit. He alone can raise our cold hearts to rapture and restore again the art of true worship."

What the....???

Church

From Today's Thought

From the trenches....

"You don't see the church on Sunday morning any more than you see the army when it's on dress parade."

Bill Popejoy

Have I mentioned....?

I love this blog that He lead me to.....from Jim's blog and this is his latest post.

“The strain of constant judgment is virtually intolerable. It is curious that an ability so debilitating would be so deeply cherished.”

Who is your authority? On what basis do you “judge” yourself? Do you judge yourself based on your behavior…in comparison to others…your ego…your perception of “success”…your physical appearance…your religiosity…your spiritual progress?

What if you listened to the voice of God deep within you? Would it scare you to hear God does not judge you based on these criteria? Would it scare you to hear God does not judge you at all in terms of ranking you based on the above things? Do you think your judgment of yourself should trump God’s?

What if the voice of Perfect Love said that you could never improve or diminish the perfection of who you are, and that in every moment you were “judged” as perfect in God’s eyes…every second, of every minute, of every hour…perfect in God’s estimation.

How great is that???

I like it!

From Today's Thought

"The Christian has been transplanted into a new soil and a new climate, and both soil and climate are Christ."

James Stewart

Today

Following by Dr. John Woodward - Grace Fellowship International

In His insightful book, The Father Heart of God, Floyd McClung Jr. emphasizes the grace of God which should flow in our Christian fellowship. "As we love and accept and forgive one another as brothers and sisters in Christ, God's love flows through us to heal one another.Through our brothers and sisters in God's family, God provides the kind of love and acceptance that frees us from our fears and allows us to experience greater wholeness as people. We can be committed to others without fear of rejection. We can accept others in spite of their weakness. We can forgive others even when they hurt us . . . All this is true because of God's grace. It is His grace, His undeserved love,that does this for us. We don't have the ability in ourselves to be so loving, but God enables us to love. We don't have have the ability in ourselves to heal one another, but through us God heals others. Every Christian has this ministry. Each of us can be a grace-giver'.

"If we miss out on the expression of God's love though fellow believers, Christ's sufficiency is our safety net. Paul had a lapse of Christian support shortly before his martyrdom. "At my first defense no one stood with me, but all forsook me. May it not be charged against them. But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me,. . . (2 Tim 4:16,17). Our Lord Jesus was disappointed in his sleepy prayer partners at Gethsemane, but an angel was sent to strengthen Him. (Luke 22:43). Our Lord will never leave or forsake us! (Heb 13:5).

I was tagged by Joel over there at the grace roots blog....

Rules
1. Those tagged will share 5 Things They Dig About Jesus.

2. Those tagged will tag 5 people.

3.Those tagged will leave a link to their meme in the comments section of this post so everyone can keep track of what's being posted. (not really sure what this means....but I will try to do it right....try, try, try.....it really can be all about the trying, can't it? :)Thanks Joel....for still being there and checking in, now and again.


Here are 5 things I dig about Jesus:

1. Jesus laid down His life for us, so that He could give His life to us, so that He could live His life through us.

2. I have total forgiveness because of Jesus.

3. Jesus is the solution for every need of my heart.

4. Jesus cares for me in a way that I cannot even begin to imagine.

5. I live under grace that came from Jesus (and that really is Him).


Now I tag:
1. oncoffee
2. mikey'sgodtalk
3. the M blog
4. madetopraisehim
5. "For such a time as this"

I don't think that too many will respond, but that's ok....it is all good.

Habakkuk 3:16-19 KJV

16 When I heard, my belly trembled; my lips quivered at the voice: rottenness entered into my bones, and I trembled in myself, that I might rest in the day of trouble: when he cometh up unto the people, he will invade them with his troops.

17 Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls:

18 Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.

19 The LORD God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds' feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places. To the chief singer on my stringed instruments.

Tozer on worship

Today...

Walk as children of light (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), finding out what is acceptable to the Lord. --Ephesians 5:8-10

I have to be faithful to what I know to be true, so I must tell you that if you will not worship God seven days a week, you do not worship Him on one day a week....

Too many of us try to discharge our obligations to God Almighty in one day--usually one trip to church. Sometimes, nobly, we make it two trips to church, but it's all on the same day when we have nothing else to do--and that's supposed to be worship. I grant you, sir, that it can be true worship, provided that on Monday and Tuesday and the other days you also experience the blessings of true worship.

I do not say that you must be at church all of the time--how could you be?

You can worship God at your desk, on an elevated train, or driving in traffic. You can worship God washing dishes or ironing clothes. You can worship God in school, on the basketball court. You can worship God in whatever is legitimate and right and good....

So that's all right. We can go to church and worship. But if we go to church and worship one day, it is not true worship unless it is followed by continuing worship in the days that follow.

But today is only Saturday...

Tozer's devo for today.

But the Lord is in His holy temple. Let all the earth keep silence before Him. Habakkuk 2:20

"So I've got to tell you that if you do not worship God seven days a week, you do not worship Him on one day a week. There is no such thing known in heaven as Sunday worship unless it is accompanied by Monday worship and Tuesday worship and so on....

We come into God's house and say, "The Lord is in His holy temple, let us all kneel before Him." Very nice. I think it's nice to start a service that way once in a while. But when any of you men enter your office Monday morning at 9 o'clock, if you can't walk into that office and say, "The Lord is in my office, let all the world be silent before Him," then you are not worshiping the Lord on Sunday. If you can't worship Him on Monday you didn't worship Him on Sunday. If you don't worship Him on Saturday you are not in very good shape to worship Him on Sunday."

Jim's Prayer Book

Saint Anselm

Let me seek You in my desire,
Let me desire You in my seeking.
Let me find You by loving You,
Let me love You when I find You.

Be Thou My Vision

From Jim Palmer's Prayer Book

A couple more gems today but really check out his posting for June 12/07 on his blog site. A like-minded brother. What a cool catalyst this little prayer book has been!

Gregorian Chant

Come, Holy Spirit
Bend what is rigid in me,
Melt what is frozen.


John Bell

Here is a gaping sore, Lord;
half the world diets,
the other half hungers;
half the world is housed;
the other half homeless;
half the world pursues profit,
the other half senses loss.
Redeem our souls,
redeem our peoples,
redeem our times.

Making Beautiful Music

From Tozer:
When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, "I am Almighty God; walk before Me and be blameless." --Genesis 17:1

Without argument, most things are at their best when they are fulfilling their purpose and design.

For instance, a piano is made with a specific purpose: to produce music. However, I happen to know that someone once stood on a piano in order to put a fastener of some kind in the ceiling. Some artistic women have used piano tops as family picture galleries. I have seen piano tops that were cluttered filing cabinets or wide library shelves.

There is an intelligent design in the creation of a piano. The manufacturer did not announce: "This is a good piano. It has at least 19 uses!" No, the designer had only one thought in mind: "This piano will have the purpose and potential of sounding forth beautiful music!"...

Do not miss the application of truth here. God was saying to Abraham, "You may have some other idea about the design and purpose for your life, but you are wrong! You were created in My image to worship Me and to glorify Me. If you do not honor this purpose, your life will degenerate into shallow, selfish, humanistic pursuits.

Iona Abbey Prayer

From The Pocket Book of Prayers - Edited by Jim Palmer, (a great collection of short little prayers, that are gems and inspire thought and action). Check out his blog. Interesting guy!







Lord of the excluded,

Open my ears to those

I would prefer not to hear,

Open my life to those

I would prefer not to know,

Open my heart to those

I would prefer not to love,

And so open my eyes to see

Where I exclude You.

Praise In All Things

It ain't easy grace. From Frank Friedman, today.

"Grace assures success in obedience."

"Our performing good works in a New Covenant economy pleases God."

"I love you, my child, but I do not love your behaviour." That is the way God would say it, in speaking about our lack of true and total worship to God. And He isn't talking about the music!"

He spoke about Juan Ortiz's analogy.....we give the beginning sputterings of a car starting....God gives the VROOOOM it needs to move forward. Always our choice to accept His leading.

Easy to get caught up with "I don't have to do a thing"......and stay there. What a wondrous thing it is to step with His prompting, of course, but letting Him know, yep, today I hear and I obey. Now, God ......"manifest Yourself, through me.". You know??

Kenyan Prayer

From the cowardice that dare not face new truth

From the laziness that is contented with half truth

From the arrogance that thinks it knows all truth,

Good Lord, deliver me.

Boast in the name of the LORD, our God

Psalm 20 NASB

1 May the LORD answer you in the day of trouble!
May the name of the God of Jacob set you securely on high!

2 May He send you help from the sanctuary
And support you from Zion!

3 May He remember all your meal offerings
And find your burnt offering acceptable! Selah.

4 May He grant you your heart's desire
And fulfill all your counsel!

5 We will sing for joy over your victory,
And in the name of our God we will set up our banners
May the LORD fulfill all your petitions.

6 Now I know that the LORD saves His anointed;
He will answer him from His holy heaven
With the saving strength of His right hand.

7 Some boast in chariots and some in horses,
But we will boast in the name of the LORD, our God.

8 They have bowed down and fallen,
But we have risen and stood upright.

9 Save, O LORD;
May the King answer us in the day we call.

Without Him, we are all just idiots.

Tozer Today

He really had me laughing at his wording in this devotion today. Maybe that has something to do with dealing with high-school and university students in my home this week.
His references .....hmmmm ....gangsters, communists, sinners, .....young people......it just made me laugh. :) But for His Grace, go I.

"Without worship we go about miserable; that's why we have all the troubles we have. You wonder why young people act like such idiots. Some young people have a lot of energy and don't know what to do with it, so they go out and act like idiots; and that's why gangsters and Communists and sinners of all kinds do what they do. They are endowed by God Almighty with brilliant intelligence and an amazing store of energy, and because they don't know what to do with it they do the wrong thing. That's why I'm not angry with people when I see them go off the deep end, because I know that they have fallen from their first estate along with Adam's brood and all of us together. They haven't been redeemed and so they have energy they don't know what to do with; they have capacity they don't know how to use. They have skills and don't know where to put them, and so they go wild and police have to arrest 16-year-olds and put them in jail. If they had been taught that they came into the world in the first place to worship God and to enjoy Him forever and that when they fell Jesus Christ came to redeem them, to make worshipers out of them, they could by the Holy Ghost and the washing of the blood be made into worshiping saints and things would be so different."

Wishes

From Today's Thought

"I wish you then, a very rich, deep, true, straight, and simple growth in the love of God, accepted and willed gently but greatly, at the daily hourly cost of self."

Friedrich Von Hugel

A beautiful wish!

"Astonished Reverence"

From Tozer's devotional today. MMMMmmm....rich!

" Man is better qualified to appreciate God than any other creature because he was made in His image and is the only creature who was. This admiration for God grows and grows until it fills the heart with wonder and delight. "In our astonished reverence we confess Thine uncreated loveliness," said the hymn writer. "In our astonished reverence." The God of the modern evangelical rarely astonishes anybody. He manages to stay pretty much within the constitution. Never breaks over our bylaws. He's a very well- behaved God and very denominational and very much one of us, and we ask Him to help us when we're in trouble and look to Him to watch over us when we're asleep. The God of the modern evangelical isn't a God I could have much respect for. But when the Holy Ghost shows us God as He is we admire Him to the point of wonder and delight. "

And from yesterday....
" The simple truth is that worship is elementary until it begins to take on the quality of admiration. Just as long as the worshiper is engrossed with himself and his good fortune, he is a babe. We begin to grow up when our worship passes from thanksgiving to admiration. As our hearts rise to God in lofty esteem for that which He is ("I AM THAT I AM"), we begin to share a little of the selfless pleasure which is the portion of the blessed in heaven. "

Isaiah 35:3-4 NIV

Take heart....

3 Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way;

4 say to those with fearful hearts, "Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution he will come to save you."

Chuckle

"Said the frustrated exchanged life believer to the long time good old baptist fundamentalist believer....."After all, we are both doing the Lord's work -- you in your way and I in His." :)

"...It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me."

Galatians 2:20 NASB
Again, I hear loudly.....we are the Church, the Body of Christ.

From a great posting....on "Awakening" called "Who Shall Build A House For Me? Read it all. I love finding these treasured sites and to see so much of what I am feeling playing out in the world around me. I pray that He might use this vessel, again, broken and battered as it is to live His life out of - to those who cross the path of it.

"House church isn't the answer to these ills in the church. A return to a pilgrim mentality that we are just passing through is in order. We are a people on a journey toward home. To stay and camp in one area for too long is detrimental to our moving forward into the "promised land of God" called heaven. When we get comfortable, we first pitch a tent. Then we plant a field. Then we build a wall. Then we replace the tent with a permanent structure. Then we build a city around our permanent structure. All along we are losing our compass reading. We are pointed toward the earth, rather than toward our eternal home. The things of the earth become more precious than the things of eternity. We want to stay here, rather than longing for being with God fully in eternity. Again, all the while, the Father weeps over our misplaced priorities."

(I interject here, to make note of the number of "we, we, we's that are in this way of doing life. Nothing that I do....but what He does in and through me...sorry, but it stands out like a purple elephant to me :) )

"Simply ask yourself, "Am I too comfortable here in this strange land called earth?" If so, then ask the Spirit to reorient you back to Jesus and His vision of the people of God on a journey toward home. And, while you are at it, invite the lost to get on the narrow road with you by entering through faith in Christ "

Praising Him Today

Music Today:

Worship today, music wise was provided by this wonderful C.D. from Hillsong that I continue to go back to over and over again. It is reverant, peaceful and helps bring me to that place where my focus is totally and wonderfully on Jesus. When I am slipping just outside that focus, this C.D. brings me back there.

Today's Scripture: Psalm 45 10 - 11 (NIV)

10 Listen, O daughter, consider and give ear: Forget your people and your father's house.
11 The king is enthralled by your beauty; honor him, for he is your lord.

From Matthew Henry's Commentary:

The psalmist's tongue was guided by the Spirit of God, as the pen is by the hand of a ready writer. This psalm is touching the King Jesus, his kingdom and government. It is a shame that this good matter is not more the subject of our discourse. There is more in Christ to engage our love, than there is or can be in any creature. This world and its charms are ready to draw away our hearts from Christ; therefore we are concerned to understand how much more worthy he is of our love. By his word, his promise, his gospel, the good will of God is made known to us, and the good work of God is begun and carried on in us.

Psalm 139 NASB

From Matthew Henry's Commentary

The believer expects weariness and ill treatment on his way to heaven; but he shall not stay here long : walking with God by faith, he goes forward on his journey, not diverted from his course, nor cast down by the difficulties he meets. How blessed it is to sit loose from things here below, that while going home to our Father's house, we may use the world as not abusing it! May we always look for that city, whose Builder and Maker is God.

1 O LORD, You have searched me and known me.

2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You understand my thought from afar.

3 You scrutinize my path and my lying down, And are intimately acquainted with all my ways.

4 Even before there is a word on my tongue, Behold, O LORD, You know it all.

5 You have enclosed me behind and before, And laid Your hand upon me.

6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is too high, I cannot attain to it.

7 Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence?

8 If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there.

9 If I take the wings of the dawn, If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea,

10 Even there Your hand will lead me, And Your right hand will lay hold of me.

11 If I say, "Surely the darkness will overwhelm me, And the light around me will be night,"

12 Even the darkness is not dark to You, And the night is as bright as the day (Darkness and light are alike to You.

13 For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother's womb.

14 I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well.

15 My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth;

16 Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written. The days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was not one of them.

17 How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them!

18 If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand. When I awake, I am still with You.

19 O that You would slay the wicked, O God; Depart from me, therefore, men of bloodshed.

20 For they speak against You wickedly, And Your enemies take Your name in vain.

21 Do I not hate those who hate You, O LORD? And do I not loathe those who rise up against You?

22 I hate them with the utmost hatred; They have become my enemies.

23 Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts;

24 And see if there be any hurtful way in me, And lead me in the everlasting way.

Thoughts from Guy on the M Blog Today (well actually from Friday.....but I came across it today), with thanks. Check it out! Interesting thoughts from the book "The Way Church Ought To Be", by Robert Lund.

Rethinking the nature and function of ekklesia

Praying that all who check out my blog today, would realize the amazing blessing that is upon their lives already......May He reveal Himself to each one today in an awesome and real way!

On Ephesians

Third take of 10 Quick Takes on Ephesians 5:21/22-33 by Chris Spinks.

I love reading this blog. It has interesting and thought provoking views on the Scriptures. Very cool! Check it out!

"On the subject of modern interpretations, I have always been perplexed by something. Wives are told to submit to husbands. That’s in the text. No way around it. Husbands are told to love wives. Fine. Rarely any problem for we modern folks on this. Here’s the thing though: I imagine most people would agree that wives ought to love their husbands as well. Right? We understand the ideal marriage as one where both partners love each other. But, the Ephesians text only calls on the husband to love. We easily understand a reciprocation of this love from the wife’s end. Why do we not also just as easily understand a reciprocation of the submission from the husband’s end? Indeed, v. 21 is quite explicit about it. Yet I would imagine if we were to ask a “traditionalist” to describe a good marriage, he (purposefully exclusive language!) would say something about love between the husband and wife and the submission of the wife to the husband. Why no submission between the husband and wife? I’m perplexed."

"I'm Not Who I Was"

By Brandon Heath