Contemporary Psalms

9-1-14

Jeremiah 15:16 and 22:29; Song of Solomon 1-2; Psalm 104; Proverbs 24:15-16;
 1 Corinthians 11:17-34

O earth, earth, earth, hear the Word of the Lord! It has been the joy and rejoicing of my heart. And it still is, today. Today, despite the ravages of savages in Iraq and Syria, despite their sweep of terror over innocents whom they behead, calling them infidels. LORD, forgive the for they know not what they do! Only You can lift the veils of deception and delusional hatred from their blinded eyes and hearts. Only You!

You already told us that such days would come. And so, I pray, like a lily of the valley, under cover, hidden beneath Your banner of Love. Therefore, there is a fragrant aroma wafting as from the bush that is my home -- an aroma of believing prayer... prayer  that believes You can do what we cannot... prayer that knows You also cover the bundle of myrrh who are my beloveds. I bring them  to Your banqueting table and thank You now for covering them with Your Banner of Love.

I know You can do this, because You brought to safety against all odds. And You caused me to hear Your voice, O my Beloved! You came, leaping on the mountains, skipping on the hills, and You continue today, looking for the lost who will be found, the beloveds for whom I  pray...  God, I know You can accomplish these salvations because You have done it for me, hard-hearted, stiff-necked, insufferable, wayward and rebellious me. You came and retrieved me from the precipice because of prayers from others, Your people who heard Your voice and heeded. And You heard their prayers. And now I am covered with Your Light as with a garment. Thank You, Father Son and Holy Spirit, for answering the prayers of Your people, and for putting into their hearts whatever needs to be prayed so that You might part the waters and set the captives free.

Thanks to You and the prayers of Your people, I now know that the waters will not return to cover the earth and that I will never fall by calamity into the realms of Eternal Loss, for I am made righteous by You, in whom I live and move and have my being. Therefore, whenever I am judged by You, I am chastened but not condemned with the world. And I believe You when You say that, soon, the rain will be over and gone. Soon Your flowers will appear on the earth. Soon the time of singing will have come and the vines with tender grapes will give a good smell.

O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the LORD! Find His Word and eat it in order that He may become the joy and the rejoicing of your heart! 

Photograph by Jo Chaney.

Contemporary Psalms

1-21-14

Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom. 

And in all your getting, get understanding.

Proverbs 4:7

This is the day for gathering in You, under Your Wings, to join together in  simple assembly, offering prayers of gratitude for a safe  place to hear from You and apply Your Wisdom to our little lives.  May we in trust each other in You, sharing truly, honestly, and knitted together through the love of Christ and by Your Holy Spirit before You, Father. Thus may be,  like You, be in  unity... triunity... Yours, the Three in One.

This photograph is from a Facebook page called Live Life In Color.

Contemporary Psalms

1-20-14

Get wisdom! Get understanding! Do not forsake her, and she will preserve you.

Proverbs 4:65-6

Wisdom is indeed a pearl beyond price, and it comes through the parables that capture and convey truths we cannot otherwise comprehend. Such consolations You provide through Your Word Writ and through the blessed assurances of Christ!  For instance, the example of Abraham being asked (by You!) to sacrifice Issac. People seem afraid to enter relationship with You, as though You are a cult leader eager to brainwash Your followers to follow You into things like sacrificing Issac. But the fact is that relationship with You is backed up by Scripture, which helps us discern Your wisdom from cruel twists and half-truths.

I had my own "Issac" when my husband found employment in a gambling casino and everyone around me was saying, "Don't let him do this." Their claim, and it made sense in human terms, was  that "This couldn't be God." But God was telling me to "Keep your hands off and leave this alone." And so I did, praying my husband might develop a holy hatred for the environment -- and he did! And he found another path and it led him to promotion after promotion in a successful position where he excelled for eighteen years. God did not ask me to kill Issac. But the story and that example helped me realize things don't always sound like God, but it could be God.

Thank You for developing a deeper and closer relationship with my, LORD -- on that the devil cannot twist, though he certainly does try. And he will try, especially  after the Rapture of Your Church, Your Bride who will be misconstrued "haters" -- as tares taken from the earth and thrown into the fire. People will believe this because they do not know the sum of the Word Writ, and they will easily become pawns in the devil's game. They do not know themselves to be wicked by virtue of their simply not seeking God to get wisdom and understanding. Thus they will practice lawlessness and things that offend God, albeit unwittingly, and they themselves will be offensive to God, Who will continue to love them and beckon them to safety in His arms.

This photograph is by M&D Photography from a Facebook page called 

Live Life in Color.

Contemporary Psalms

1-19-14

Arise, O LORD, do not let man prevail. Let the nations be judged in Your sight. Put them in fear, O LORD, that the nations may know themselves to be but men.
Psalm 9:19-20

It grieves my heart to see so many beloveds whose hearts have grown cold, whose ears are hard of hearing, who eyes do not sparkle though they be wide open. Only You can pierce through the clouds deception surrounds them like a cloak; only You can remove this cruel power, this arrogant principality whose name is Life of the Mind. Until You lift the veils, how can they discern? How can they seek? How can they find? Only You can impart the senses that will lead them to find You and receive You in their hearts. O God, have mercy on them as You did on me! 

I know You do not forget the cries of the humble. I know that a large part of my purpose is to stand in the gap, declaring Your deeds and telling of all Your praises, rejoicing in Your salvation even of those who have been snared by the work of their own hands. 

I declare that You will arise, O LORD, for You desire that none should perish but have eternal Life. You hear the cries of the humble, and Your answer in heaven is YES and AMEN. Therefore I know that hearts which have grown dull will soften and feel and open, and You shall enter in, and help rebirth them by Your Holy Spirit. Then will they know themselves to be but men and come into Your fields to blossom fruit of Your Spirit, wise in You and not their own wits. Shame shall no longer be their legacy, the legacy of fools. Instead, they will know themselves to be but men, and You, their God Most High. Thank You, O Holy Triune God, who reigns over all -- the seen and the unseen. Thank You, O God Most High.

Contemporary Psalms

1-18-14

...those who know Your name will put their trust in You; for You, LORD, have 

not forsaken those who seek You.

Psalm 9:10

Father God, it is SO encouraging to read Your Word Writ and respond to many verses now, when once I could resonate with barely a single phrase. Thank You for transforming me from a fool to a follower, for bringing me into the zone of Your still, small voice. I love living this way: coming into Your Presence each morning, seeking Your will, hearing from heaven... Your heartbeat. You have profoundly altered me! The mainspring of me is entirely different than the one I had before. You have performed heart surgery -- given me a heart transplant! I am very grateful for Your surgery, and I bow before You, offering this jar of clay, as empty of EGO as I can be, presenting myself as a living sacrifice -- Yours for Your infilling, correction and completion in any ways You want or need. Here I am!

Please forgive all the wrong things I have done and thought and spoken. Thank You for receiving these and disintegrating them into particles like dust and for scattering them, dispersing them, blowing them in the wind! Thank You for Your assurance that they are now as far as the East is from the West. Obliterated and deleted from your screen. Thank You for Your forgiveness, and for imparting knowledge to my heart that I am covered and protected by Your Shield, Your Sword, Your Mantle to walk in Your Sandals. I remember the horse shows where I saw my friend doing Dresage. A powerful stallion held in her reins! This memory is vivid and inspires me, that even the men can be surrendered to Your Power, obedient to Your leading, and can I. Therefore, I gladly hand over the reins and pray You will reign indeed -- over me, and over any/all who humble themselves and pray Your will be done -- in us, on earth, as it is in heaven. 

This photograph is from a Facebook page called Live Life in Color.

Contemporary Psalms

1-17-14

I will tell of all Your marvelous works... I will sing praises to Your name, 

O Most High...

Psalm 9:1-2

You, O LORD, have purposed my life, permeating it with the joy of singing Your praises and telling of Your mighty works, including some that were little but nevertheless LOUD. I can understand  great wonders, such as the parting of the Red Sea, but am even more awestruck when You pierce the darkness with a pinhole of Light, such as "wells without water" appearing throughout the month of December to lead me to safer ground. Thank You for the Light -- and for the eyes to see things not seen by natural eyes. Thank You for rebirthing me into life as a born-again believer with spiritual senses activated and operative. Second birth is a gift beyond price.

LORD, I see that keeping Your sound wisdom leads me to walk safely in my ways, unafraid of sudden terror or trouble from the wicked when it comes. I embrace what You are teaching me, over and over again. Your Light keeps my foot from being caught and protects my heart from becoming ensnared. In You I trust to send forth justice, for vengeance is Yours, not mine. It is You who maintains my right and my cause; You rebuke the nations and sit on the throne judging in righteousness. I do not. What I do is tell of Your marvelous works and sing Your praises.

This photograph is from a Facebook page called Live Life in Color.

Contemporary Psalms

1-16-14

Jesus answered and said, "I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have 

revealed them to babes."

Matthew 11:25

It is the prayer of my heart that even the "wise and prudent" will diligently seek Your true Light, not settling for lesser or artificial lights mistaking them for the Son. Sonlight -- not a "grow-light" in a greenhouse -- nothing short of the Light of Christ! 

I come before You, in Christ and by Your Holy Spirit, laying my burdens down. I listen for Your consolations, Your comfort, Your assurance, and I receive a knowing that all will be well in Your perfect time, and a knowing that Your answers in heaven are YES and AMEN because these are prayers for Your will to be done.Therefore, I will take Your yoke upon me and learn from You, for You are gentle and lowly in heart, and You desire me to find rest in You. Your yoke is easy, and Your burden is light... 

Light and Life to all You bring;

May we worship You and sing

Adoration and trust that You are listening;

As we cling to You, O God on high, we cling!

This photograph is from a Facebook page called Live Life in Color.

Contemporary Psalms

1-15-14

What is man that You are mindful of him?

Psalm 8:4

What is man that You visit him, and yet You say, "Whatever I tell you in the dark, speak in  the light; and what you hear in the ear, preach on the housetops." Therefore I tell of Your works and I sing Your praises, confessing You before men. Your sword of truth is wisdom and a tree of life to those who take hold of her. Thanks to You, "those who do" includes me.

Thank You for telling us that we  will be hated for Your Name's sake -- persecuted and fleeing and enduring as Your disciples. Yet we who receive You are received by You , and others who will enter Your paths will by no means lose their rewards. Savior and LORD, be LORD! Be LORD over anyone who finds the tree of life and takes hold of Your wisdom. Happy are they, covered with glory and honor because, what is man? The desire of Your Sacred Heart.

This photograph is from a Facebook page called Live Life in Color.

Contemporary Psalms

1-14-14

How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.

Genesis 28:7

What a revelation it is to know that, wherever I go, there is a ladder set up on the earth, its top reaching to heaven, on which the angels of God ascend and descend. To me, this is a picture of Life in the Spirit: our connection through Christ to Christ at Your right hand. Thus do we come with our every prayer and our every need. Thus are we with You wherever we go,  always in this place, no matter where we are! 

Thus do we arise early in the morning, knowing that communications between You and man have been opened. There is no break now; the curtain has been rent. Through this story about Jacob,  we can hear You saying, "Hereafter you shall see heaven open and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the sons of man." 

Christ is the ladder! By Your Holy Spirit, He has broken through the barrier! He has led us into the thing that connects the two, and it is He, Jesus the Christ! He is the thing!

This photograph is from a Facebook page called Live Life in Color.

Contemporary Psalms

1-13-14

But Jesus turned around, and when he saw her, He said, "Be of good cheer, daughter; your faith has made you well."

Matthew 9:22

"You must be born again" echoes in my ears. How changed I was to receive Salvation, yet the Lordship part came in a second pass, after a decade of reading and digesting the Word of God. It took time for me to learn to seek Him and discern His will and trust His leading and follow Him, sometimes into most unlikely places.

Thank You, LORD, for second birth, for activating the Holy Spirit within me, for leading me into the best ways to live by Your gentle beckoning and urging. Second birth is an immeasurably valuable gift, aka "inestimable" was the word we once used, back in the days when I thought the Church was a building. Thank You for the Quakers, who make the distinction by calling the building The Meeting Hose, and for calling what happens within it The Meeting. Thank You for assembling us, for connecting us divinely, and for presiding over our gatherings. Thank You for explaining so clearly that, when we meet, we meet in Christ -- literally. What a revelation You have given to Your people, O God, by Your Holy Spirit...by Your second birth.

And so, as a born-again believer, I call Jesus both my Savior and my LORD. And when you saw the multitudes, LORD, You were moved with compassion for the religious leaders were keeping the "sheep" from following the true Shepherd. Woe, LORD, woe! Please impart to all who call ourselves YOurs the eyes to see and knwo what they cannot now either see or know. Forgive, oh LORD, reveal and heal! Set Your people free! Open the gates to Your Care and Keeping! My ears resound to hear You saying to this broken world, "Let my people go."

This photograph is from a Facebook page called Live Life in Color.

Contemporary Psalms

1-12-14

O LORD my God, in You I put my trust. Save me from all those who persecute me, and deliver me lest they tear me like a lion...

Psalm 7:1-2

Last year, LORD, I wrote in the margin next to these words, "The Song of the Slandered." Today I see that the image of a lion is implied, which makes me laugh because You told me, after the Commencement from Hell, not to put my head into the mouth of a roaring lion, but to pray instead. And so I recall that I have resisted this before, having spent most of my life like Don Quixote, tilting against windmills, expending so much of my energies in futility and in vain.

Now, instead, I see the situation as a lion and I bring it to You, wrapped in swaddling clothes, and I lay it down, giving You thanks and praise for handling it. And I walk away, rejoicing, for I know my surrendering of these things is needed before You will enter in. My prayers are payment (and they are pavement on which You walk straight to the lion in question). Thank You for showing me in the past that fervent prayers are like golden pavement that makes for You paths straight and smooth. And that is how You enter, the Great Physician, Who alone is able to perform major surgery and transplants of the heart.

May we all be given revelation that exposes the songs of slander, and may be pray with the authority granted to us in Christ, for we have suffered of that same affliction. We saw that You do not tolerate intolerance calling itself tolerance as we saw when You disappeared an AP correspondent for her hatred of Your People Israel. Thank You for this, just one of many proofs that You will not be mocked; that You defend Your people, that those who belong to You will be avenged eventually. May we see all songs of slander as encouragement, O God, turning persecution into golden prayer, knowing  You are on the way as we look to You, bleating.

This photograph is from a Facebook page called Live Life in Color.

Contemporary Psalms

1-11-14

Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths.

Psalm 3:5-6

O God on high, it is awesome to know that Your counsel is available and obtainable and that it leads us truly to good solutions through paths that are the best ways to live. Without Your wisdom, what we seek to achieve always ends up being as arrogant as the Tower of Babel, with similar results. But God, by Your Holy Spirit, You can open natural eyes to see the tragic flaw of our human strivings and reveal them for what they are. Transform by Your Second Birth, I pray oh God, that we may seek You diligently and find You, seeing and hearing directly from You and following You, no matter the cost. Help us be like Abraham, rising early in the morning as Jesus did when He walked this earth. May we also be diligent and disciplined in that doing. Help us be vigilant to protect the Quiet Time that starts each day so You are able to keep us safe and true no matter what the cost of our discipleship.

Thank You for encouraging us (through Abraham this morning) that we are not to withold from You, O God, even our only son! And that, if we are willing to sacrifice our vessels to You daily, Your name to us will be The Lord Will Provide. Indeed, even Your enemies, O God, shall be ashamed and greatly troubled. May they see rightly and turn around and return to You after all, simply because You have heard our weeping supplications. Thank You for receiving my prayers and for mercifully working ALL things to good for those whom You call "Mine."

This photograph is from a Facebook page called Live Life in Color.

Contemporary Psalms

1-10-14

Let not mercy and truth forsake you; bind them around your neck...

Psalm 3:3-4

Father God, in Christ and by Your HolySpirit I come before Your throne to say aloud that it is not possible for me to escape the scoffing or the mocking or the spiteful persecution that comes from afar. It is possible, however, to find others who are surrendered to Your Power, vessels of Your mercy and truth, divine connections forged by You. You seem to be telling me to find my "peeps" -- those who respect and love me no matter what,  as I love You love us no matter what -- those whom You, O God, have labelled "Mine." 

Thank You for transforming knowledge of Your Word into understanding that is deep and profound. Thank You for Your mercy and truth around my neck and for protected those most precious to You from this world and set us into the Body of Christ, like living stones, radiant by Your Holy Spirit increasing as we allow. Thank You for the relief in realizing that life in this "earthsuit" is not about me or any one of us at all, that Your goal is to obliterate self-sufficiency, self-reliance, indeed self-ANYTHING at all! THank You that I can hear You twirling and singing over me as I am drawn higher and deeper and closer to Your Heavenly Heart. Thank You for releasing me from the false gods that once do so cruelly tormented me: measurements regarding me in any way at all -- my works, not performance. You have smashed those idols into smithereens, and I thank You!

Such freedom to let go and let You increase -- period. Thank You for protecting this little lantern from the arrows that are shot from afar life. I rejoice to know the agony You suffered was the epitome of suffering, most ultimate and sublime, more than sufficient to cover mine. And now, so sweet it is to hear You (again!) saying, "Mine -- no matter what ... Mine."

This photograph is from a Facebook page called Live Life in Color.

Contemporary Psalms

1-9-14

For there is no faithfulness in their mouth; their inward part is destruction; their thought is an open tomb... Pronounce them guilty. O God! Let them fall by their own counsel, for they have rebelled against You.

Proverbs 2:10-22

God, I do not pray this as being Your end result, but as Your beginning to rebirth as You rebirthed me. I am not blameless, God, I am forgiven. Thank You for baptizing me by Your Holy Spirit to see and know the things unseen. I do rejoice to experience Your protection and blessing, that with favor You surround me as with a shield. Discernment has been preserving me and keeping me from arrows shot by perverse people, many who have left the paths of righteousness to walk in the ways of darkness. 

You have delivered me and protected me from "the immoral woman" who lures multitudes of deceived people to forget Your covenant, O God. Bring back Your covenant to the remembrance of Your people, I pray, as only You can. Only You can revive and restore lambs gone so far astray. I was just like them once. Like them, I wiggled myself under the fencing You had built to protect me, and us, and soon found myself treacherously near a terrifying abyss. Like them, I had unwittingly eaten poisonous weeds, mistaking them for the nutritious grasses of Your Safe Pasture. Cruelly I had been exposed to worms that had crawled up my nose to drill into my brain. LORD, please! Reveal these things to those many beloveds who are out from under, like I was. Only You can reveal the dire need to crawl back, as low as we can get, returning to You under that same fence, re-entering Life that is spelled with a capital "L"  because in You and by You -- even now, albeit dimly. 

Thank You for convincing me it is not my job to pull people back as by a tether, like my pulling my reluctant dog on a leash into the office of the veterinarian. It is mine to bring these beloveds to You in prayer, asking that You would reveal and heal, as You did for me. Help me persevere in prayers that are fervent and faithful, entrusting these  beloveds to Your Perfect Care. Help me walk forth, free indeed, into this day, rejoicing in Your mercy toward me and those for whom I pray, rejoicing in Your Perfect timing, in Your Perfect Way. It is finished; these prayers are answered, and Your answers in heaven are YES and AMEN. I thank You, Father, for the trust I have to bring and sing and leave these burdens wrapped in prayer. In Christ and by Your Holy Spirit, I do pray...that each might be forgiven, though guilty, as I was and am -- not blameless, but forgiven...

This photograph is from a Facebook page called Live Life in Color.

Contemporary Psalms

1-8-14

My voice in the morning, O LORD; in the morning I will direct it to You and 

I will look up.

Psalm 5:3

Today I have such gratitude for Your help to me, O God, for the advocacy of my doctor's insightful medical care and that he cares for me, tenderly and strongly contending for my well-being. Thank you for some of the  nicest words I have ever heard, for rolling away the tombstone that was not too hard for You but was unbudge-able by me. You have shown me that you are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness, especially that which is cloaked in loveliness and all kinds of vain glory-seeking... nor shall evil dwell with You. The boastful shall not stand in Your sight. THank You for showing this to me -- and plainly.

Not that I am perfect or flawless in my human state, but n You I am forgiven and a vessel of mercy instead of wrath. For my sake, You are showing that You will destroy falsehood; that Yu abhor those  who are bloodthirsty and deceitful toward me. Thank You for covering me in the multitude of Your mercies. I am so grateful for Your protection and Your guarding the paths of justice and for Your preservation of me through such stormy seas. You are indeed my shield! And You have assured me,once again, that I am a lily of Your field. Therefore I seek first Your Kingdom and Your righteousness and gratefully receive even succor and encouragement that you have added to my life  this day.

Thank You, thank You, thank You, oh God, that I BELIEVE Your promises and that I understand what belief means now, thanks to You. It used to mean "hoping" but now it means "to know certainly." That knowledge has come only because You have shown so much evidence in my past, even TODAY! You are my shield, under Whom I come into safety like chicks under the wings of a brooding hen. Under wing, I thank You Father, Son and Holy Spirit! I thank You for gathering us who are Yours to live under Your wings -- in peace: safe, joyous and free indeed.

This photograph is from a Facebook page called Live Life in Color.

Contemporary Psalms

1-4-14

I cried to the LORD with my voice, and He heard me from His holy hill.
Psalm 3:4

Heavenly help is here! I don't believe my eyes and ears, but in the spiritual senses, I do see and hear You hovering near and increasing in this place! What a joy it is to see You operational and activated, even in these circumstances so impeded by unregenerate hearts. It helps me to recall that noting is impossible for You, oh God, and that You are able to speak through anything, even a donkey if You must. I rejoice to see You engineering the circumstances to reveal the things unseen, to bring down the thick walls of Jericho by circumcising each hardened heart.Thank You for training me to see things Your way... and not to sympathize with the shortcuts preferred by worldly hearts. Thank You for teaching me that, with You in charge, even agony can be turned to triumph, as Your man, Oswald Chambers, so aptly said. You are the best teacher there is, oh Holy Spirit of God, who lives in me as I live in Christ, even now, in the heavenlies before the Father, in the Throne Room ofHeaven, yet dimly now but in Fullness when the appointed time arrives. Awesome God! Triune God. All I need I have in You, even this hope in this not seen. I am grateful!

This photograph is from a Facebook page called Live Life in Color.

Contemporary Psalms

1-3-14

Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him 

Psalm 2:12

Father in Heaven, I am indeed blessed; our family is blessed and grateful for Your creation of us -- and for Your preservation of us, perhaps for such a time as this. For it seems that he whole earth is corrupt before You and that it is filled with violence as in the days of Noah. Therefore we hear You weeping, for You desire that none should perish but have eternal Life. And we remember Noah, who walked with You, and was preserved by You with his family. Therefore we thank You for bringing that to our remembrance, O God, and rejoice with trembling to know that blessed are are those who put their trust in Your Son, the Christ, our Jesus, in Whom we live and move and have our bring, and Who, by Your Holy Spirit, also indwells us, even now and also forever... and ever... Amazing grace. Thank You, Almighty, Triune God. Increase in us, we pray, that Your Light may pierce the darkness of this broken world and bring many sons (and daughters) to glory.

This post is based on Genesis 5:1-6:22; Psalm 2:7-12; Proverbs 1:10-19; Matthew 3:1-17. The photograph is another from the collection called Angelic Host by my dear friend, Veronica Benning.

Contemporary Psalms

1-2-14

...the rulers take counsel together against the LORD and His anointed, but He who sits in the heavenlies shall hold them in derision. Then He shall speak to them in His wrath and distress them in His deep displeasure.

Psalm 2:1-6

LORD, thank You, for Your consolations. I truly feel this morning that You have addressed me personally, that You saw me cast down and that You ran to me and set me onto on my feet, It is an amazing thing to be Your lamb, oh God, covered by the Blood of Christ, to be indwelt by Your Holy Spirit, in Christ who came transformed me from my darkened condition into a New VCreation in Christ who You have named "Mine."

So, LORD I say "HERE!" as I lay my burdens at Your feet, wrapped in lovely blankets, I say, "Here! Take them! Wake them!" In the meantime, help me accept the fact that darkness does indeed hate the light and to remember Joseph, who was so hated by his brothers, and to remember that You Yourself was cruelly persecuted and reviled. I hear You saying that You are working it all to good and that no agony on earth can approach the Agony You suffered on the Cross. I am to forgive, as You did, for they do not know what they are doing and walk away saying, "My God will handle this." I know that You will, even that You are! And I thank You for revealing that, though they think is all about me, it is all about You. So I stand, rebuking the spirit of Cain, declaring that Your name for me is "Mine," and proclaiming that, therefore, no weapon formed against me shall prosper. In Christ and by Your Holy Spirit I do pray!

This pen and ink drawing was done by my dear friend, Veronica Benning, who allowed me to publish it, with three others, in a book Downloads from God. She called the collection Angelic Host, and the loveliness conveyed by each drawing is bringing me great comfort at the news of her death this Christmas Eve.We are still reeling from this loss, but shofting our focus now to the gift of knowing where she is and it's all good for her now. She is free from pain, free from sorrow, as we will be, too, when we are leave this body to be present with Christ the LORD.

Contemporary Psalms

1-1-14

The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:9).

The Tree of Life again! Yesterday it was in Revelation 22; today it is in Genesis 2 and in Psalm 1: the beginning and the end! Thank You, LORD, for this sweet transition into the new year. May we be fruitful and multiply by nurturing our Life in You and by tending the curious and the mildly interested to encourage them to become Your disciples, a people refreshed, saved, sustained and raised up by Your Sacrifice and Resurrection. May we all receive the Bread of Life directly from You and may our thirst be quenched forever by Your Living Water.

Tree of Life! Both Bread and Water -- not the bread or mater of the merely natural life. Life with a capital L -- may we have spiritual birth and, by Your spiritual food, spiritual refreshment,  experience spiritual growth. Grow us from lambs in Your care into sheep of Your flock -- Your people, Oh God, who will follow You, our perfect and tender shepherd. Thus may we be fruitful and multiplyl!

This photograph is from a Facebook page called Live Life in Color.

Contemporary Psalms

12-31-13

Let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take of the water of 

Life freely.

Revelation 22:17

LORD, this month's journal started with wells without water from 2 Peter 1:17, and now, on the last day of the month -- and the last day of this year, I see You saying in Revelation 21:6, "I will give of the fountain of the water of Life life freely to him who thirsts." Amazing, LORD, how You connect the dots for me and speak through "accidents" like seeing the first page of this month and Your echo of it at the end.

Thank You, LORD! Also for the Light You are shining, leading me by the pure river of the water of Life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the Throne of God and the Lamb (Revelation 22:1). I believe You are saying it is unwise to turn to any empty well expecting to draw water from it. You seem  be saying, "Look, child, and see with your Spiritual Eyes! Discern the dry wells, and do not try to draw water from them. Forgive them for they do not know that they are empty. But you can see that they are dry wells. Pray for the dry wells to be filled with the water of Life. I desire mercy, not sacrifice!"

What I hear You saying is that there is no earthly "well" on which I can depend... some can help each other find Your Living Water and prefer it, but it is You, LORD, who supplies. You are the fountain of Life and You water us freely. Also, You hold us in Your Body with the powerful pull of Your Holy Spirit. Nothing can pluck us from You; we are set into You like precious jewels in a great array. Those who fear Your Word speak to one another and You listen and hear them. So a book of remembrance has been written before You for those who fear You and meditate upon You, who says in Malachi 1-4, "They shall be Mine... and on the day that I make them My jewels and spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him..."

Living stones! We will see no temple i it, for the LORD and the Lamb are its temple. The city will have no need of the sun or the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God will illumine it.  The Lamb is its Light... They need no lamp nor light, for the LORD God gives them light (Revelation 22-23).

The above post is based on Malachi 1-4 and Revelation 21-23. The painting is my friend Veronica Benning who is absent now from her earthly body but present in the Body of Christ. To me, this painting speaks of the Holy Trine God she knew but dimly, but now knows in Fullness of Life. Veronica, my dear old chum and pal, we know the time is short. Therefore we also know that we will see you in the Morning!