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Who Gets the Wishbone?

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Thanksgiving Day is commonly called turkey day. (That’s sad.) Hoards of hungry people will choose their favorite parts of Butterball birds and stuff themselves with all the Thanksgiving Day fixins. Will you gobble down a drumstick or savor a sumptuous breast?

Who gets the wishbone?

Will wishes come true?

“Wish good for those who do bad things to you. Wish them well and do not curse them (Romans 12:14 NCV).”

Wait a minute; wish well to people who hurt me? That’s a lot to ask!

The Golden Rule never goes out of style. “Do to others what you want them to do to you (Matthew 7:12a NCV).”

Let’s get this straight. I want people to treat me well; so, I should treat them well (regardless of what they have done to me).

I look forward to Thanksgiving Day. I’m thankful to God. He is merciful. The LORD hasn’t given me the wrath I deserve. He is love. When saying grace before the Thanksgiving meal; I will remember that He has given me the grace I don’t deserve.

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Bible Studies, Christian Growth, Christmas, Devotionals, Salvation

Gift…Through the Generations

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“And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.

 So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David until the carrying away into Babylon are fourteen generations; and from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are fourteen generations.

 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost (Matthew 1:16-18 KJV).”

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Devotionals, The Church, Worship

Call to Worship

I sang in many church choirs during the last 50 plus years.

Churches had gifted choir directors, choir members and soloists.

people standing inside church

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Most directors were dedicated, cordial and appreciative. I remember only once being required to audition for a church choir.

Back in the early 1970’s, J. Lamar Alexander was serving as choir director at the First Baptist Church of Lake Providence, Louisiana. He had me sing notes of the scale. I’m surprised that I got up the courage. I’d say he was a master at his craft…

He mastered the traditional form of worship service.

Lamar Alexander believed in call to worship opening selections. To this very day I recall the holy hush following our offerings of ‘The Lord is in His Holy Temple.’

“But the Lord is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him (Habakkuk 2:20 KJV).” 

The lyrics, based on Scripture, called us to worship, submission and praise.

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Bible Studies, Christian Growth, Devotionals, Redemption, Salvation

In HIM

 

blue and white metal fence

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“Praise the Lord!

Praise the Lord, O my soul!
While I live I will praise the Lord;
I will sing praises to my God while I have my being. (Psalm 146:1-2 NKJV).”

My help…

My hope…

My help, my hope is in the LORD; in HIM.

“How blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,
Whose hope is in the Lord his God,
Who made heaven and earth,
The sea and all that is in them;
Who keeps faith forever;

Who executes justice for the oppressed;
Who gives food to the hungry.
The Lord sets the prisoners free (Psalm 146:5-7 NKJV).”

 

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Christian Growth, Devotionals

Crooked!

white and black camera inside a wooden frame

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There was a crooked man… (Nursery Rhyme)

Oh, dear me; we do hate to see an object in need of straightening.

It matters not where.

At home, a crooked framed picture might catch my eye.

Aghast, I could notice a masterpiece off kilter in a museum.

I’m compelled to straighten the crooked frame.

Tabloid headlines label an influential politician crooked.

Peers point fingers and constituents contemplate on candidates for his replacement.

God has the solution for crooked, wicked men.

He sets them straight.

“Let the wicked forsake his way
And the unrighteous man his thoughts;
And let him return to the Lord,
And He will have compassion on him,
And to our God,
For He will abundantly pardon (Isaiah 55:7 NASB).”

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Christian Growth, Hymns, Salvation

Do you; do I?

Trusting the LORD…

Obeying Him…

Do you: do I?

‘Trust and Obey’ by John H. Sammis 1887 (Public Domain)

When we walk with the Lord
in the light of his word,
what a glory he sheds on our way!
While we do his good will,
he abides with us still,
and with all who will trust and obey.

Refrain:
Trust and obey, for there’s no other way
to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.

Not a burden we bear,
not a sorrow we share,
but our toil he doth richly repay;
not a grief or a loss,
not a frown or a cross,
but is blest if we trust and obey. [Refrain]

But we never can prove
the delights of his love
until all on the altar we lay;
for the favor he shows,
for the joy he bestows,
are for them who will trust and obey. [Refrain]

Then in fellowship sweet
we will sit at his feet,
or we’ll walk by his side in the way;
what he says we will do,
where he sends we will go;
never fear, only trust and obey. [Refrain]

 

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Devotionals

The Riddle

photo credit: sylvar <a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/44124401501@N01/847720104″>A nearly empty closet</a> via <a href=”http://photopin.com”>photopin</a> <a href=”https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/”>(license)</a> 

I have a riddle.

Are you ready?

What was it?

It wasn’t one size fits all.

We didn’t buy it at a department store ready to wear department.

It was never hung in our bedroom clothes closet and was not handed down to the next child in our family.

What was it?

Answer: Our birthday suit!

“As he had come naked from his mother’s womb, so will he return as he came. He will take nothing from the fruit of his labor that he can carry in his hand (Ecclesiastes 5:15 NASB).”

 

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Christian Growth, Devotionals

‘Sea to Shining Sea’

 

 

 

photo credit: Chancy Rendezvous <a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/40510080@N04/28658410188″>Some Flag-Waving</a> via <a href=”http://photopin.com”>photopin</a&gt; <a href=”https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/”>(license)</a&gt;

 

From sea to sea …

“May he also rule from sea to sea
And from the River to the ends of the earth (Psalm 72:8 NASB).”

Atlantic to Pacific…

“From sea to shining sea!”

‘America the Beautiful’ 1911 version

[Lyrics: Katharine Lee Bates/ Music: Samuel A. Ward/ Public Domain]

“O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America!
God shed His grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!

O beautiful for pilgrim feet,
Whose stern, impassioned stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America!
God mend thine every flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law!

O beautiful for heroes proved
In liberating strife,
Who more than self their country loved
And mercy more than life!
America! America!
May God thy gold refine,
Till all success be nobleness,
And every gain divine!

O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America!
God shed His grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!” 

 

 

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Bible Studies, Christian Growth, Devotionals

The Reflection

photo credit: mariateresa toledo <a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/87063841@N00/49160028333″>Devi e lo specchio</a> via <a href=”http://photopin.com”>photopin</a> <a href=”https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/”>(license)</a> 

Mirror, mirror on my heart…

What does God see?

“As water reflects the face,
so the heart reflects the person (Proverbs 27:19 HCSB).”

Is my reflection in the mirror distorted by sin?

“Because if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man looking at his own face in a mirror. For he looks at himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was (James 1:23-24 HCSB).” 

Lest I forget…

“Man does not see what the Lord sees, for man sees what is visible, but the Lord sees the heart (1 Samuel 16:7 HCSB).”

 

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Christian Growth, Devotionals, Prayer

From Discipline to Restoration

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Discipline…

“The Lord spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they paid no attention. Therefore the Lord brought the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria against them, and they captured Manasseh with hooks, bound him with bronze chains and took him to Babylon (2 Chronicles 33:10-11 NASB).”

Distress…

“When he was in distress, he entreated the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers (2 Chronicles 33:12 NASB).”

Prayer…

“When he prayed to Him, He was moved by his entreaty and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem to his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord was God (2 Chronicles 33:13 NASB).”

Restoration…

“Now after this he built the outer wall of the city of David on the west side of Gihon, in the valley, even to the entrance of the Fish Gate; and he encircled the Ophel with it and made it very high. Then he put army commanders in all the fortified cities of Judah.  He also removed the foreign gods and the idol from the house of the Lord, as well as all the altars which he had built on the mountain of the house of the Lord and in Jerusalem, and he threw them outside the city.  He set up the altar of the Lord and sacrificed peace offerings and thank offerings on it; and he ordered Judah to serve the Lord God of Israel (2 Chronicles 33:14-16 NASB).”

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