Beautiful Things Happen

O God

Such beautiful things happen

When I meet You day by day

In quietness and confidence.

There is a deep inner wholeness

And the assurance of Your guidance.

I am not so easily disturbed

By changing circumstances.

I am less dependent on others

And more dependent on You.

My eyes may be full of tears

But my heart is full of joy.

In discovering Your hidden treasures

I learn how deeply I am treasured by You.

When day by day I am responsive

To Your whispered secrets

You do more for me in one day

Than I could do for myself in a lifetime.

~ Ruth Harms Calkin ~

For thou art my lamp, O LORD: and the LORD will lighten my darkness.

For by thee I have run through a troop: by my God have I leaped over a wall.

As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the LORD is tried: he is a buckler to all them that trust in him.

For who is God, save the LORD? and who is a rock, save our God?

God is my strength and power: and he maketh my way perfect.

~ 2 Samuel 22:29-33 ~

God is waiting to be put to the test by His people in prayer. He delights in being put to the test on His promises. It is His highest pleasure to answer prayer, to prove the reliability of His promises.

God shapes the world by prayer. The prayers of God's saints are the capitol stock of heaven by which God carries on His great work upon the earth.

The more praying there is in the world, the better the world will be; the mightier the forces against evil.

Around us is a world lost in sin, above us is a God willing and able to save; it is ours to build the bridge that links heaven and earth, and prayer is the mighty instrument that does the work.

~ E.M. Bounds

The Power of Prayer

Prayer has divided seas, rolled up flowing rivers, made flinty rocks gush into fountains, quenched flames of fire, muzzled lions, disarmed vipers and poisons, marshalled the stars against the wicked, stopped the course of the moon, arrested the rapid sun in its great race, burst open iron gates, conquered the strongest devils, commanded legions of angels down from heaven. Prayer has bridled and changed the raging passions of man, and routed and destroyed vast armies of proud, daring atheists. Prayer has brought one man from the bottom of the sea, and carried another in a chariot of fire to heaven; what has prayer not done!

~ Anonymous

Do we pray?

Someone we love is sinking deep in sin,
This dear one, from God, has turned away;
When we learn someone has chosen to reject Him,
It must not be because we did not pray.

We must reach out to that someone in love,
With a need to bring them back today;
If they fail and miss Heaven above,
It must not be because we did not pray.

There may be sin in fun and pleasures we seek,
Many temptations will lure the soul away;
Sin leaves the soul, mind and body weak,
It must not be because we did not pray.

Time is passing from us each day and hour,
Sin has a very high cost to someday pay;
Satan will devour the soul with his power,
It must not be because we did not pray.

We must pray and leave the outcome to God,
Be loving and forgiving as we go our way;
If one life returns to God on this journey we trod,
We can rejoice because we "did" pray.

~ Leona I. Miller

Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints..

~ Ephesians 6:18

Just think:
You are here not by chance but by GOD's choosing.
His hand formed you and made you the person you are.
He compares you to no one else; you are one of a kind.
You lack nothing that His grace cannot give you.
He has allowed you to be here at this time in history to fulfil His special purpose for this generation.
You are GOD's servant in GOD's place at GOD's perfect time..:)

Praise ye the LORD: for it is good to sing praises unto our God; for it is pleasant; and praise is comely.
He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds.
He telleth the number of the stars; he calleth them all by their names.
Great is our Lord, and of great power: his understanding is infinite.
The LORD lifteth up the meek: he casteth the wicked down to the ground.
Sing unto the LORD with thanksgiving; sing praise upon the harp unto our God:
Who covereth the heaven with clouds, who prepareth rain for the earth, who maketh grass to grow upon the mountains.
He giveth to the beast his food, and to the young ravens which cry.
He delighteth not in the strength of the horse: he taketh not pleasure in the legs of a man.
The LORD taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy.

~ Psalm 147:1,3-11

The Gift

I heard today
Of a decrepit native woman
Who walked mile after mile
Under the blistering sun
To bring a small gift of embroidery
To the missionary she deeply loved.

Hour after hour she trudged
Over rough, rugged roads
Clutching tightly her small gift.
Her weary body sagged
Her vision blurred
Her bare feet bled from the jagged rocks.

Grateful but overwhelmed
The missionary wept.
The trembling old woman spoke softly:
"Please understand.
The walk is part of the gift."

My Lord
My commitment to You is for life.
I give myself to You unreservedly
To do with me as You please.
But may I not forget
That the tears, the fears
The strain and the pain
The sunless days
The starless nights
Are all part of the whole.
In my total commitment
I give full consent:
The walk is part of the gift.

~ Ruth Harms Calkin

Give Thanks

Give thanks

with a grateful heart,

Give thanks

to the Holy One,

Give thanks

because He's given

Jesus Christ His Son

And now let the weak say

I am strong

Let the poor say

I am rich

Because of what

the Lord has done

for us

Give thanks.. =)

The world needs men and women..
a.. who cannot be bought;
b.. whose word is their bond;
c.. who put character above wealth;
d.. who possess opinions and a will;
e.. who are larger than their vocations;
f.. who do not hesitate to take chances;
g.. who will not lose their individuality in a crowd;
h.. who will make no compromise with wrong;
i.. whose ambitions are not confined to their own selfish desires;
j.. who will not say they do it "because everybody else does it";
k.. who are true to their friends through good report and evil report, in adversity as well as in prosperity;
l.. who do not believe that shrewdness, cunning, and hardheartedness are the best qualities for winning success;
m.. who are not ashamed or afraid to stand for the truth when it is unpopular;
n.. who can say "no" with emphasis, although all the rest of the world says "yes".

~ L.M. Groves

He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?

~ Micah 6:8

I Trust You

O God, I trust You.

I don't understand

I cannot begin to comprehend

The wisdom of Your way

In my torn and tangled life

But I am steadfastly believing

That Your plan for me today

Must be --

Surely it must be

As kind

As loving

As profitable

As Your plan for me

In joyful days now past.

You are the same

Yesterday

And today

And forever

So, dear God

I trust You.

~ Ruth Harms Calkin ~

..Let thy salvation, O God, set me up on high.

~ Psalm 69:29b

God is not looking for brilliant men, is not depending upon eloquent men, is not shut up to the use of talented men in sending His Gospel out in the world. God is looking for broken men, for men who have judged themselves in the light of the Cross of Christ. When He wants anything done, He takes up men who have come to an end of themselves, and whose trust and confidence is not in themselves but in God.

~ H.A. Ironside

I have an unquenchable desire to slow down and find my life going deeper in my walk with Christ.
I want to meet Him in the depths of my soul, away from the stress and press of everything on top.
A relationship with Christ is the key to fulfilling our deepest longings.
All of life is about filling the void that sin and separation from Him have created within.
Filling the emptiness with piles of things, earthly friendships, satisfying experiences, and sensual encounters ultimately proves to achieve less than what we had hoped for.
Christ is the only one who fits.

~ Joseph M. Stowell