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I came across the above in my great  Grandma's remembrance book and  thought it was a helpful reminder.  Personally I seem to have mixed feelings  about new years, so I'm very glad for this  promise from Matthew 28. "lo, I am with  you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen." " No matter what happens in 2020, we don't  face it alone.  The Lord has promised to be with His  people and His plans really are the best!

I always loved this verse. I think it's such a great encouragement that no matter how frequently we mess up, our God is the One who is able to keep us and present us faultless with exceeding joy. What a glorious day of rejoicing that will be! God and the angels and redeemed mankind will all rejoice greatly at the Lord's great loving kindness and mercies and gracious dealings with His people.  When you're struggling to hold on to that, remember this: "The Lord is righteous in all His ways, Gracious in all His works. The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, To all who call upon Him in truth." Psalm 145:17-18.  Whether it feels like that or not is another matter but our feelings do not dictate truth.  He is gracious, and worthy of all the praise we can give, even in the hardest circumstances. We have many examples of this all through the Scriptures. 

Echoes of the Aaronic blessing here. I don't recall ever giving much thought to what it means to have His face shine upon one, but what an amazing thing it must be. I'm reminded by this verse that He doesn't save us for any reason other than because He is merciful and gracious. We certainly can't earn salvation; it's a gift that cost the Lord Jesus Christ His very life! Because He gave everything for us, we should certainly be willing to be His servants. As Romans 12 puts it, "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God." I've always found these verses a great challenge.

Despite the fact that Solomon lived nearly 3000 years ago, this piece of advice is still extremely relevant today! Obviously because it's God's Word which is living and active.  If everyone always tried to live with God and eternity as our highest priority, I think life would be rather different.  Would you agree?

Obviously we all know we can't physically, literally kiss the Son. There may be lots of other interpretations of this, but I heard years ago that it's a term meaning to worship. Do we who are blessed because we trust in Jesus live our lives in a constant attitude of worship? Or do we so often "forget" or become busy doing too many other things He never intended us to do and relegate worship to Sunday mornings? In case you need the reminder, here it is. We have been given the awesome privilege of being His children, and He has richly blessed us in countless ways. He saved us from our sins which would have led us to destruction. He gave us the glorious hope of eternal life with Him, which will be far more wonderful than you or I can imagine. For all this and so much more, He alone is worthy of all praise, glory, honour, and our lives should be completely dedicated to Him for His good pleasure. (I'm definitely preaching to myself here, I think typing it out he...

"Be patient - wait God's time. He knows the best.  Though plans are crossed, unanswered your requests. Even when you suffer from the stunning blow, When He to your petition answers, "no." When all is dark around, just kneel in prayer. Tell Him you're trusting. He will bless you there." By Mrs Clara Simpson " Make every day a walk with Thee. New glory shall the sunshine gain. And all the clouds shall lightened be Go with me on life's dusty road And help me bear the weary load. Talk with me, Master, by the way. The voices of the world recede The shadows darken o'er the land. How poor am I, how great my need. Speak to my heart disquieted. Till it shall lose it's fear and dread. Bide with me, Master, all the way. Though to my blinded eyes unknown. So shall I feel a presence near Where I had thought I walked alone. And when, far spent, the day decline Break Thou the bread, dear Guest o...

Jesus presents us with a choice. Will you follow and serve Him? Or do you insist on doing things your own way? Even though it's so obvious that His way is going to be far better than ours could ever be, sometimes we still have doubts, and don't trust His plan. Let's choose to remember that His plans are higher than ours and that He really does know what He is doing. Let Him have His way. It really is the best way! He even promised that the Father will honour those who serve Him!

I think this is self explanatory and I believe it's the Truth, because Jesus said it. If you want to see life, you need to believe in the Son of God, namely, the Lord Jesus Christ. If you reject Him, you will not see life.

Well, this verse doesn't need explaining. I believe I should meditate on it more and start praising more too! We're never going to be able to plumb the depths and heights of just how great He is, but for what we do know of Him and all His goodness towards us, we should be eternally grateful. I think in Heaven we'll have a better understanding of all the ways He's been so wonderful to us; we might not even have known about many of them. But let's trust Him without seeing all the evidence.

What is the thing that you are hoping for the most? Have you based your hope on something that will definitely take place or is it merely the "wishful thinking" kind of hope? I'm so glad we have the blessed glorious hope of being with the Lord forever. We can be confident that He will take care of His people. He never forsakes those who have cried to Him for mercy! I call that really good news.

Yet again, this verse reminds me of the Lord's great faithfulness. What a blessed reassurance that our God never varies in the slightest.  He always gives good, perfect gifts, and He is light, in Whom is no darkness at all.  We can and should trust Him completely, and we should never stop thanking Him for His marvellous loving-kindness to us. What a privilege to be called His own dear children!

Some quotes from George Muller.  " The first great and primary business to which I ought to attend every day is to have my soul happy in the Lord." " There were few people, perhaps, more passionately fond of travelling, and seeing fresh places, and new scenes, than myself; but now, since, by the grace of God, I have seen beauty in the Lord Jesus, I have lost my taste for these things." " At last I saw Christ as my Saviour. I believed in Him and gave myself to Him. The burden rolled from off me, and a great love for Christ filled my soul. That was more than fifty years ago. I loved Jesus Christ then, but I loved Him more the year after, and more the year after that, and more every year since. " Truly when we see the King in His beauty (Isaiah 33:17) , we should be filled with the greatest delight. The One who is far above all principalities and powers and every name that is named has chosen to reveal Himself to us in such a way as to restore fel...

How precious is this truth that Christ has redeemed us! He paid a very high price to make us His own dear children!

A command and a promise... I hope you have put your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. If you have, you can rejoice in the salvation He gives. If you haven't, please don't leave it too late! He promised to save all who believe on Him.  He is the only One who is completely reliable.  You can depend on the One who never fails!  He will always be faithful!

Years ago, I heard the Bible Alphabet song. I'm using some of those verses for this project, but some different ones too. I will be aiming to post one verse every few days going through the Alphabet. The X and Z verses are definitely stretching it, but it had to be done. :) I was challenged to learn this one at JAM club quite a lot of years ago! If you're up for a bit of a challenge too, you can memorise these with me. Ok? Or perhaps you already know all of the ones I'll share. In that case, find another starting with that letter and memorise that one instead. :)

I was reminded of these verses at Church this morning. We can trust the Lord. He is in control of all things. Our lives and times are in His hands.  He has promised many precious things in His Word and He will always be faithful! Here's the link to the sermon. It's a good challenging one! https://youtu.be/NjR21V_3JiM

“Come, warm your hearts, all intellectual capacities, at this fire; O come, all ye created faculties, and smell the precious ointments of Christ; O come, sit down under this shadow, taste and eat the apples of life. O that angels would come, and generations of men, and wonder, admire, adore, fall down before the unsearchable wisdom of this gospel art of the unsearchable riches of Christ!”  “I pray God that I may never find my will again. Oh, that Christ would subject my will to His, and trample it under His feet.” “Our fair morning is at hand, the day-star is near the rising, and we are not many miles from home; what matters the ill entertainment in the smoky inns of this miserable life? We are not to stay here, and we will be dearly welcome to him whom we go to.” “We may sing beforehand, even in our winter storm, in the expectation of a summer sun at the turn of the year; no created powers can mar our Lord Jesus' music, nor spill our song of joy. Let us then be glad a...

The other day I decided to do a little search on what God says about humility. I think it's fair to say that there are quite a lot of references. God obviously thinks a lot of it... This is not an exhaustive list, and in no particular order, but I think it's worth thinking about, especially when the same thing is repeated 2 or 3 times. Proverbs 15:33   - The fear of the LORD is instruction in wisdom, and   humility   comes before honour. Proverbs 18:12   - Before destruction a man's heart is haughty, but   humility   comes before honour. Proverbs 22:4   - The reward for   humility   and fear of the LORD is riches and honour and life. Zephaniah 2:3   - Seek the LORD, all you humble of the land, who do his just commands; seek righteousness; seek   humility ; perhaps you may be hidden on the day of the anger of the LORD. Ephesians 4:2   - with all   humility   and gentleness, with patience, bearing w...

Ever since I heard this hymn, I loved it. Tonight was the first time I have heard the 4th verse. I've looked it up before and not seen a 4th verse. I think it's beautiful. How amazing that the Lord Most High, the King before whom every knee will bow, the Creator of all things, has bowed down low! I'm so glad that He chose to bestow His glorious love on me! Truly we should never cease from singing His praise for the wonderful blessings of mercy, grace, forgiveness and loving-kindness that He has showered upon us! What a privilege to be His child, because He made it possible for us to be reconciled to God.

This is by no means an exhaustive list of Scriptures mentioning Strength, but I found them very encouraging. I hope you do too. "The LORD is my strength and song, And He has become my salvation.  He is my God, and I will praise Him; My father’s God, and I will exalt Him." Exodus 15:2 "The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; My God, my strength, in whom I will trust; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold." Psalm 18:2 "The LORD is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The LORD is the strength of my life; Of whom shall I be afraid?" Psalm 27:1 "The LORD is my strength and my shield; My heart trusted in Him, and I am helped; Therefore my heart greatly rejoices, And with my song I will praise Him." Psalm 28:7 "For You are my strength. Into Your hand I commit my spirit; You have redeemed me, O LORD God of truth." Psalm 31:4-5 "For You are the God of my strength; Why d...

Aren't you glad He's so faithful!?!?!?

"Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. 1 Peter 1:8 The people of God ought to be the happiest people in all the wide world! People should be coming to us constantly and asking the source of our joy and delight -- redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, our yesterdays behind us, our sin under the blood forever and a day, to be remembered against us no more forever. God is our Father, Christ is our Brother, the Holy Spirit our Advocate and Comforter. Our Brother has gone to the Father's house to prepare a place for us, leaving us with the promise that He will come again!" Quite a challenge. Hopefully you find it encouraging too.

"Each step in the life of faith is toward richer blessing. Are you God's child? There is nothing before you in the unopened future but goodness. Every new experience, whether of joy or sorrow, will be a new storehouse of goodness for you. Even in the heart of disaster you will still find goodness infolded. Even your disappointments will disclose truer, richer blessing than if your own hopes had been realized. Here is a lens through which every true Christian may see his own path clear to the end - from goodness to richer goodness, from glory to glory, the last step through the opening door of heaven into the presence of the King."

Habakkuk 2:1 says, "I will stand my watch And set myself on the rampart, And watch to see what He will say to me, And what I will answer when I am corrected." And here's what Mr Wesley had to say about that verse: "Called to give an account of the mysteriousness of providence; either to satisfy doubters, or to silence quarrellers." Can we say, like Samuel, "Speak Lord, for your servant is listening."? Do we really know the Shepherd's voice or have other voices crowded Him out? In so many places in Scripture, we're told to "Be still" and "Stand firm". Do we ever take much time aside to be alone with the Lord for Him to correct our skewed way of thinking? Have we given many accurate accounts of the Lord's dealings lately? Have we satisfied doubters or silenced quarrellers?

Did a quick e-Sword search of the things Scripture says God is God of and I found the results quite interesting. God of : Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Jeshurun, Elijah, David, Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego God of heaven God of heaven and earth God of Israel (most often repeated) God of the Hebrews God of the spirits of all flesh God of your fathers, their fathers, our fathers God of gods God of truth God of knowledge God of the armies of Israel God of hosts God of the rock of my salvation God of the land God of our salvation God of Jerusalem God of my righteousness God of glory God of my life God of my strength God of my mercy God of my praise God of judgment God of the whole earth God of all the families of Israel God of all flesh God of recompences God of the inhabitants of Jerusalem , of the land of Israel God of the living God of the Jews and of the Gentiles God of patience and consolation God of hope God of peace ...