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Keith Green - Oh Lord, You're Beautiful

Thursday, March 28, 2013

Pass over! It is almost here!

Psalm 136:1, “Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever
__________

Mercy according to my Webster's Dictionary means:
(1) compassion or forbearance shown to an offender or subject; clemency or kindness extended to someone instead of strictness or severity;

(2) a blessing regarded as an act of divine favour or compassion;

(3) relief of distress; compassion shown to victims of misfortune.

According to Unger's Bible Dictionary, "mercy" is defined as "a form of love determined by the state or condition of its objects. Their state is one of suffering and need, while they may be unworthy or ill-deserving. Mercy is, at once the disposition of love respecting such, and the kindly ministry of love for their relief."


In more than four hundred places in Scripture the Mercy of God is mentioned directly and is also mentioned indirectly in hundreds more, from parables to prayers. My brethren, too often we fail to acknowledge God's enduring mercy.

Sometimes this is because we are confused or depressed or because we fear our sins have placed us beyond his reach. God’s mercy reminded me of His rainbow and His cross. Let me explain what I mean.

I remember so very vividly one day in July of last year a steady rain was falling and as I looked toward the east, lightning punctuated the dark angry clouds. Towards the west, the sun was shining so brightly and set against the ominous sky in vivid living colour was the most brilliant double rainbow I had ever seen!

In just a few brief moments earth’s Creator was whispering through the soft glow of that spanning arch.

My thoughts at that time…..
“were people really listening? Did they hear His message of mercy?”

That rainbow reflected God’s promise that He would never again, judge the wickedness of the earth by a flood.

However, there is another symbol which speaks of His mercy. It’s a rough-hewn cross, whose shadow is cast over all of history against the backdrop of human sin. It promises that God’s wrath will never fall on those who trust Christ as their Lord and Saviour.

Jesus Himself bore its full force in our place.
The rainbow…… and the cross…….

both speak so eloquently and silently of God’s precious love and enduring mercy.

The question then arises; what if we reject the cross and Christ’s death?

You know, God gives us that freedom;

however, there will never be any other symbols of mercy……..no other covenants.

My friend, God has done all He can do to win our voluntary allegiance. Look to the cross of Calvary, where He Himself bore the awful consequences of our sin in the person and body of His beloved Son, Jesus Christ.
__________

Further reflection:

Like all of God’s attributes, His mercy is intrinsic to Him. He is called “the Father of mercies” and a “God of mercy” (2 Corinthian 1:3; Nehemiah 9:17). His mercy is also abundantly great and boundless, higher than the heavens and filling the earth. Scripture refers to “the multitude of his mercies” (Lamentations 3:32) because the acts stemming from this attribute are so numerous.

Mercy isn’t receiving what we do deserve.

We deserve to go to hell, but by His infinite mercy we shall never go there, if you have received His Son, as Saviour.

We don’t deserve to go to heaven either, but by His grace we’ll spend eternity there.

His grace justifies and His mercy pardons.

His grace admits us to heaven and His mercy saves us from hell.

The only thing that will last forever is God’s mercy. In Psalm 136 we are reminded of this inspiring truth.

Twenty-six times the writer gives us something for which to praise the Lord, and then he reminds us,
“His mercy endures forever”.
Have you ever considered what this means when:
we sin and need forgiveness…….
our lives seem a jumbled mess that we can’t control,

we can’t find anyone to turn to for help…..

each day is a struggle because of illness, despair, or conflict……
even life, sometimes seems overwhelming.
My friend, we can still praise the Lord, because His mercies don't cease or fail. They are new every morning (Lamentation 3),

Constantly fresh…. and perfect…… and never fading with age…… His mercy endures forever.
Mikey

Thank you Mikey
Bless you
Yaddy


Thursday, March 21, 2013

What is “GRACE”



My Webster Dictionary explain the meaning of GRACE as this:

Favour:..... Charm:...... Loveliness:

Kindness shown to another:

Goodness:

Willingness to grant something:

Clemency:

Mercy:

Respite:

All done out of pure kindness without expecting anything in return:

Being granted a privilege":

To make more worthy:

The first example of grace in the Bible is Genesis 6:8:
(Of course there are many more)

Genesis 6:8: But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD. (KJV)

Some translations use the word Favour instead of grace, but the root word is Chen which means “graciousness, that is, subjectively (kindness, favour) or objectively (beauty): - favour, grace (-ious), pleasant, precious, favoured.”

In Genesis chapter 6, God is looking at the world, looking at the people He created, and His heart is broken.

His creation, at that time, was all about evil, all the time, and the Bible says that the Lord regretted that he had ever made human beings…
with one exception.
God showed “grace” (all the above ^ all the time) to Noah and his family.

The Bible says that Noah was righteous, even blameless among the people of his time,

and that he was faithful to God, but it doesn’t explicitly say that that is why God saved Noah and his family.

It just says that Noah found favour grace.... (all the above ^ all the time) in the eyes of the Lord.

I believe that God saved Noah because of his heart, not because of what Noah was (or wasn’t) doing.

God shows grace (all the above ^ all the time) to us every day of our lives,

and will continue to show us grace (all the above ^ all the time) until the day we die.

Romans 3:23-24 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
(24) and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. (NIV)

If you’ve been going through life, frantically trying to do your best, perhaps it’s time to stop and receive God’s best instead.

Psalms 34:8 Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him. (NIV)
Bless you
Yaddy

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

What is/was the point she was making?

We were discussing LOVE at our Bible study today, and one of the ladies there was trying to say that, due to the fact that her son who needed a lot of carers and, I might add, most of them were from other religions…and quite a few were Muslims as a matter of fact……. But…….she said, they were such....lovely caring people.

So I said....”Well, no matter how lovely and caring they are, unless they have Jesus in their live and have accepted Him, no matter how loving and caring they are they won’t make it.


She then said, “Well, no, I wasn’t referring to “bringing them Jesus...!”

So I asked what her point was?

She then went on to tell us that before the war, in Europe, where she lived, all the different religions lived segregated,
(and I can vouch for that as they did the same even after the war, in other places in Europe). and no Roman.Catholic. kid was allowed to play with a Protestant kid, and once the town they lived in was flattened and bombed, and rebuilt, every one lived “where ever” and not segregated anymore...
all the kids played with one another never mind what religion they were.”



Another lady then commented that, ....”yes, children don’t worry about who has what religion, it’s the parents who do....”

But this lady went on to say, “Isn’t it lovely though that they did all that and showed so much love to others, shouldn’t we be doing that too?”

So....what was her point?

Do we only have to show “love” to others?

Is that the main thing we have to show?

Was that the point she was making?

I then suggested that maybe because a lot of people think that “being good” is enough and we should all be good, well, that’s all there is to it.

It seems that today, a lot of people do not believe in GOD anymore, so once you are dead....that’s it!

I then commented that maybe that is why there is so much crime and it is getting worse, because if all you have to do is be good, and then “nothing” why not be bad, as there is “nothing” then too?


See what I mean?

So.....If there is nothing....why bother?
So....we HAVE to bring Jesus into it...HE is our only hope....

So…..was that the point?
Blessings…
Yaddy

Saturday, March 9, 2013

What....is GRACE?

GRACE

over the past so many years, I’ve gradually learned that God doesn’t dislike me. I often had the feeling that He did, especially
when I knew I had sinned! You know......you do something...then you immediately think....."uh...uh.....I should not have done that..."
and you get that sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach....and then immediately you think...."Man...God must really dislike me...because I do this so often...."

But now......I have come to the realisation that....

He is always there for me..... and doing.....,

gentle and loving......comforting!

When I sin, there is much grace.

When I succeed, there is much grace.

When I’m lazy and can’t bring myself to “try” any harder, His grace is still there with me.

When I absolutely do not feel like doing anything.....His grace is still there....

Grace is so much more than “the power and desire to do God’s will.” It’s God Himself, carrying me....

whether I walk or stumble. It’s completely undeserved — God’s unmerited favour.

I do so LOVE HIM!
blessings...
Yaddy

Friday, March 1, 2013

Why is it......?

Why is it.....that people accept most of what they hear or see on the television?

They don't bother to check with any authority on the stated subject, as to whether the speaker is correct or not.

The amount of times I have heard orators say that "in their opinion..." or..."I think...." which to me says that they are guessing.
Obviously they are, in their opinion, correct with their own opinion....or thinking...

This is how I have heard a lot of people start their converstion when you aske them something about the Bible.

After a lot of small talk, the conversation gets around to some topic that could be described as coming from the Bible...
and immediately their answer is...."Well, I think...."

They obviously don't realise that it doesn't really matter what I or anyone else thinks, it shopuld always come back to the Bible.

O.K. then they say...."Well..... I believe some of the Bible just not everything..."
So...."who" decides.....what is correct and believable and what is not?

The small puny human being, who, in the sceme of things is no bigger than an ant....?

Or the almighty GOD...
creator of heaven and earth.

Coming back to what people hear or see on the telly....I heard an interviewer ask a well known naturalist...
"Did he, in all the beauty of nature, see God in any of it?"

The nature expert gave this answer...."How can you believe in a God who makes a worm that crawls inside a childs eye....
then eats the eye so bad the child becomes blind?"

Well, no one questioned this man, as he is an expert and he should know....right?

(In my opinion the interviewer should have done his homework and checked out what the naturalist was inclined to answer as he had given that answer before, and he could have corrected him, but he hadn't..... and he didn't)

Well, the nature expert was wrong.... I happen to receive a magazine callen "Creation"
(answers in Genesis)web site www.answersingenesis.org.check it here
blessings...

Yaddy