Thought on Two Verses in Luke 11

"And it came to pass, as he spake these things, a certain woman of the company lifted up her voice, and said unto him, Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked.

"But he said, Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it."

Luke 11:27-28 

"The spiritual link formed by the Word is more intimate and enduring than any link formed in the flesh."

F. B. Hole, New Testament Commentary on Luke chapter 11 

The Power of Prayer

   There is an eye that never sleeps
Beneath the wing of night;
There is an ear that never shuts
When sink the beams of light.

   There is an arm that never tires,
When human strength gives way;
There is a love that never fails,
When earthly loves decay.

   That eye is fixed on seraph throngs;
That arm upholds the sky;
That ear is filled with heavenly songs;
That love is throned on high.

   But there's a power which faith can wield,
When mortal aid is vain,
That eye, that arm, that love to reach,
That listening ear to gain. 

   That power is prayer, which soars on high,
Through (the Lord) Jesus to the throne,
And moves the hand which moves the world
To bring deliverance down.

- Author Unknown

Peace

“Peace … which passeth all understanding.” 

Philippians 4:7

Jehovah, how many are they that trouble me, many they that rise up against me! (...) But thou, Jehovah, art a shield about me; my glory, and the lifter up of my head. With my voice will I call to Jehovah, and he will answer me from the hill of his holiness. I laid me down and slept; I awaked, for Jehovah sustaineth me.

Psalm 3:1,3-5

Does all trouble find your heart so resting on God as your Father, that when it is multiplied, it leaves your spirit at rest, your sleep sweet, lying down sleeping, and rising as if all was peace around you, because you know God is, and disposes of all things? Is He thus between you and your troubles and troublers? And if He is, what can reach you?

 Pilgrim Portions, selected from the Writings, Hymns, Letters, etc., of J. N. Darby

What shall we then say to these things? If God [be] for us, who against us?

Romans 8:31 

Where God Is

Know therefore this day, and consider it in thine heart that the LORD he is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath: there is none else.

Deuteronomy 4:39

Where is God? Unbelievers sometimes ask it contemptuously, while believers ask it when overwhelmed by tragedy, trial and sorrow. Where is God? Let the Bible tell you.

God is above His people:  "He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust. Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence. He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler."

Psalm 91:1-4

Beneath His people: "The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms: and he shall thrust out the enemy from before thee; and shall say, Destroy them."

Deuteronomy 33:27

Before His people: "And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night."

Exodus 13:21

Behind His people: "And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left"

 Isaiah 30:21

Around His people: "The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them."

Psalm 34:7

With His people: "Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness."

Isaiah 41:10

"(...) and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen."

Matthew 28:20

And within His people: "Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him."

John 14:23

Be assured that whatever your circumstance God is above, beneath, before, behind, around, with, and within you.

-W. Ross Rainey

Through days of toil when heart doth fail,

God will take care of you. -Civilla D. Martin

For a very long time this November 25th's Daily Reading (I have no idea from what year... 2008-2009 or so, I think) has been kept in my Bible as a reminder of the Lord's care for us and His presence in a believer's life. As an added thought, I penned down back then Acts 17:28, the first part of which says, "For in him we live, and move, and have our being." I read this small piece of paper about a week ago again, and was so very encouraged by it that I told myself I should share it.

I hope it may also be of use and encouragement to any reader that happens to be visiting!

Seashells and Thoughts

On Friday we took advantage of the beautiful weather and drove to the beach for a walk with my dear Aunt, who is visiting us from England. While there I had time to think, and once home I wrote down the summary of my thoughts.

Excerpt from my book:

I used that opportunity to check for seashells for a project I have in mind. It is quite difficult and discouraging during this time of the year because I need a very specific type, size and shape of seashell, and there aren't that many around (perhaps I found three that met the conditions). (...) 

As I was searching among the piles and groups of shells, I saw several broken ones to which I didn't glance a second time. I was alone, a bit behind the rest of the group, so I had time to think. As I searched and checked for good samples, I realized that during my long "career" as a seashell collector, I had always discarded those shells which were broken or had some imperfection (unless that added to its "interestingness", which was seldom). Immediately I thought of that verse in Isaiah 42:3, the first part of which runs, 

"A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench."

I was so thankful that moment for the Lord's mercy, for God's love and care towards me in spite of my brokenness and utter imperfection! If He were to follow that other attitude, who would yet live? For "there is none that doeth good, no, not one"! (Psalm 14:3, second part). But praises be to the Father who loved us enough as to send His only Son, who, "by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified." (Hebrews 10:14). We may be broken, full of flaws and sin, but through our Lord's sacrifice we are made perfect!

What love!!! 

I just thought I would share that part of my journal with you... [smile].

God of Wonders

"When I see thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and stars, which thou hast established; what is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?"

Psalm 8:3-4

Every time I watch this documentary on God's wonderful creation and how He reveals himself in everything that surrounds us I am awed, amazed, intimidated, overwhelmed at how incredibly incredible He is. He is so out of our human understanding! Isaiah 55:8-9 "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith Jehovah. For [as] the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts."
Even so, God still loves us and cherishes our love! He provided a way through our Lord Jesus so that we could have a personal relationship with Him! What a wonderful thought!
Click HERE for more information about the documentary.

Candles

"Jesus bids us shine with a pure clear light, like a little candle burning in the night! In this world of darkness we must shine, you in your small corner, and I in mine!"

"You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven."

Matthew 5:14-16

Psalm 19:1

"The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork."

Psalm 19:1

Romanos 11:36

"Porque de él, y por él, y para él, son todas las cosas."

Romanos 11:36

Your Servant Loves It

"Your word is very pure; therefore your servant loves it."

Psalm 119:140

When school started I started a habit which I am very thankful for. We have more or less a half an hour of drive to where I go to shcool, and during that time I always read some Psalms, as many as I can fit into a half an hour of thinking about what I'm reading and pondering on the chapters I read. I find that when someone's in need, especially emotionally (in my situation, in any case), the Psalms are very good and bring plenty of comfort.

I kicked off with Psalm 119, which speaks about God's words and His commandments. I loved the way David continually talks about the delight he finds in God's word, the pleasure he finds in keeping His commandments! It was very encouraging.

As the days passed on I finished reading chapter 119, and went on reading. In the mornings I usually pray, among other things, for God to give me strength to live through that day and overcome any challenge that comes my way. It is incredible the way He's answered me up until now... that is, through a verse from one of the Psalms I will have read on a certain day. On that day I would read some chapters in Psalms, and a certain verse would stand out to me with a promise or an encouragement, and I would cling to that verse the whole day, repeating it to myself and thinking it over in my head whenever I felt I was lacking enough strength, joy or even perseverence.

I am weak, but He is strong. Through His strength I am strong.

All this story comes from wanting to share with whoever reads this blog today's verse. I was discouraged today, because I am sick. When I'm physically weak, it is even easier for me to be emotionally weak, and so this morning I started worrying about today. When my Mum drove us to school, I started reading in the Psalms. How wonderful it was to read this verse!

"I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well."

Psalm 139:14

He created me. He knows me better than anyone else in this world. He knows my weaknesses and my strengths. He knows my needs even before I come to know them. He prepares whatever it is I will need before I come to need it. His works are marvelous, incredible, amazing, out of my understanding. I most definitely know that, and for that, I will praise Him! How thankful I was today when I thought about this verse, and I can assure you it helped me through the never-ending six hours of school this morning.

Mountains

As I was going through some pictures I took last summer on Friday night, I found these mountain photos from a family meeting we had in late August. For some reason I thought about that Psalm which says "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork." (Psalm 19:1), and started wondering about how many verses in the Psalms mention the mountains in such a way. Therefore I started searching. It was an encouragement to me (Friday was a tough day!), and thought I would share the pictures and the verses with you.

"Your righteousness is like the great mountains; Your judgments are a great deep;" Psalm 36:6

"(He) who established the mountains by His strength, being clothed with power" Psalm 56:6 

"As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds His people from this time forth and forever." Psalm 125:2

Isn't creation beautiful?

Philippians 4

In Philippians 4 I find so many verses of encouragement! I will say that the whole Bible is full of encouragement and help, but there are some specific verses that help me in specific situations, and the verses I read today in this chapter helped me in today's situation.

Verse 4 says: "Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!"
Notice how it says always. We're not to rejoice in the Lord only when we're comfortable, when we're going through a good time in our lives. We're to rejoice in Him always. That "always" includes the times in which we're sad and feel let down, when we're disappointed and hurt, when we're living through tough times. Always.

Verses 6 and 7 say: "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."
Sometimes (especially me!) we fret and worry about everything. I'm a born worrier. Sometimes I come to a state of panic. Slowly I am learning not to "be anxious" and to trust that my needs will be met in His timing. God listens to my prayers and requests, and His timing is perfect. It's definitely better than mine. To that I will add that He gives me His peace, that which "surpasses all understanding." He will give me a peace of heart and a peace of mind I cannot achieve on my own, and none but Him can give.

Finally, verse 13 says: "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." What can I say? This verse is one of my favourites and such a huge encouragement and help! He gives me the exact ammount of strength and energy I need to go through each situation I live through.

My God is an awesome God.

A Thought

"One day the angels came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came with them. The LORD said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Satan answered the LORD, “From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it.” 

Job 1:6-7

"For the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down." 

Revelation 12:10

Are we ready for this challenge?

Mysteries

The misteries of serving a God like Him...

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD. "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts" 

Isaiah 55:8-9

Have you ever wondered why on earth something happened to you, or why did you meet such and such a person, or... something you don't understand why it happened?

One of my favourite quotes runs...:

"We're not always meant to understand"

Clark Davis, Love's Abiding Joy

Today I marvel at how God works in my life. He is definitely the most awesome God! I'm so glad He chose me as one of His daughters! ♥

Ponderings

Yesterday night I couldn't sleep. It was half past twelve a.m. and I kept tossing and turning in my bed.
So I climbed down my top bunkbed and decided to read the Bible for a while, because there was something I'd read in prayer meeting I wanted to check.
We had read 2 Peter, chapter 1. These are the parts that were highlighted:

"For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ."

Verses 5 to 8

Then I continued reading on my own, and read, 

"But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins" 

Verse 9

And I started to think... and realised I have to work on that, because, more than anything, I know I lack in perseverance (although it would make it clearer if I said that it's translated as "patience" in the Spanish version). But that wasn't the point I wanted to make. What really stood out to me were the following verses:

"So I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have. I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent of this body, because I know that I will soon put it aside, as our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me. And I will make every effort to see that after my departure you will always be able to remember these things."

Verses 12 to 15

The last verse stood out to me especially, and later that night, while I couldn't sleep, I opened the Bible again to that verse, and thought for a while.

I wondered if Peter had any idea of the way we would be reminded of his words... If he had any idea of how we would always remember these things, the things he had written, such a long time after his departure from this world.

And I marveled at God's awesomeness because, after such a long time (Peter wrote that about 2000 years ago), after so many persecutions and after all that Christianity has suffered... we still have a Bible in our hands, with true words spoken and written years and years ago.

First Things First

Before starting to get updated on your blogs and start commenting, I would like to share with you all some verses I read this morning in our family Bible Study on Proverbs. Thinking too about Lauren Ann...

"My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee; So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding; Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; If though seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; Then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God. For the Lord giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding."

Proverbs 2:1-6

This passage helped me in two ways: one way was in the upcoming start of school. I know it is not meant for worldly wisdom, it says so in the passage, "Then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God.", but it helped me all the same because it proved to me that God can help me and give me strength in my struggles to understand Physics and Chemistry, and furthermore, that He will help me.
The second way was that it gave me hunger to know more of this awesome God I follow. It encouraged me to read more my Bible, to study more intently His word, to pray more and talk to Him continually. It gives me peace. HE gives me peace. And in this peace I pray for Him to bless you all daily. Your welcome warmed my heart and I am so thankful to all of you for making blogging worth it!

Unexpected Answer

I'd been looking forward to that for a long time. My friend had finally healed from a broken knee and we would be able to go ice-skating with a group of friends! We had been planning that outing since January. Then, she'd had an accident and the trip was postponed till her leg healed.
And so, she healed, and phoned me telling me that there was already a date to go ice-skating. I was so excited! I love ice-skating, and this would be special because one, I would go with friends I hadn't seen for like more than six months, and two, we were going to ice-skate in the Barça ice-skating ring!! So yes, it was going to be special.
Then my Dad pointed out, "But we have prayer meeting that afternoon...". So I asked what was better to do (which now appears pretty obvious to me, but didn't then), and he left the decision for me to make. I know that I should have decided right then and there, but for two days I struggled with it. Missing ice-skating would be missing all that which I've explained earlier, plus I would probably never have another opportunity like it.
After two days I was talking to my Mummy, and she pointed out, "I know it's a difficult decision, but it should have been instant, girl," and so I decided to stay and go to prayer meeting. I knew I was doing the right thing, but I felt disappointed and bitter at missing such a wonderful opportunity with my friends.
Next day when we finished the meeting, I went upstairs to my bedroom to do some work. I had plenty of these calendar papers with thoughts and verses that I had to organise and choose from, and so I sat down on my desk and started reading them. I still felt bad about having missed the ice-skating.
Then something quite unexpected happened. I picked up one of the papers, and read, "...we're quick to absent ourselves from the gatherings of the saints for the most inconsequential reasons[...]. Often we assume we won't be missed - our text suggests otherwise! Empty seats don't have the ability to worship or fellowship - saints who fill those seats do." (W. H. Gustafson).
This text struck me, and made me think a lot. After reading it again and ponder about it, I realised the feeling of bitterness had left and I didn't mind having missed the ice-skating at all!! I realised too then the importance of worshipping.
After reading that little piece of paper with ink on it, I felt so blessed. And a good lesson was learnt too.

St. John 15:17

"These things I command you, that you love one another."

St. John 15:17

The Excellence Of Wisdom

"But where shall wisdom be found?, and where is the place of understanding?
"Man knoweth not the price thereof; neither is it found in the land of the living.
"The depth saith, It is not in me; and the sea saith, It is not with me.
"It cannot be gotten for gold, neither shall silver be weighed for the price thereof.
"It cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir, with the precious onyx, or the sapphire.
"The gold and the crystal cannot equal it; and the exchange of it shall not be for jewels of fine gold.
"No mention shall be made of coral, or of pearls; for the price of wisdom is above rubies.
"The topaz of Ethiopia shall not equal it, neither shal it be valued with pure gold.
"Whence then cometh wisdom?, and where is the place of understanding?"

"God understandeth the way thereof, and he knoweth the place thereof."

Job 28:12-20, 23

Old CD's As Lights In The World

We were lately blessed to receive a visit from a Dutch lady that is a missionary among ship's crew in Alaska.
Among other things, she showed to us old CD's that were recorded in various languages.

It was a very simple contraption. The CD was in a cardboard envelope that could be unfolded. One of the sides had a sharp point stuck to it:

This point was placed on the CD, and placing whatever was round (in our case, a pen) in the hole on one of the sides of the white circle and starting to make the CD rotate, the Gospel could be heard.

The lady told me this was started when a lady went to preach in South America, and really enjoyed and loved it. One day she fell sick and had to go back to the USA. Her sickness was somewhat serious and she had to stay in bed for a while, and she became worried that the people she's preached to wouldn't hear the Good News any more, so she had her voice reading the Gospel recorded on these CD's in the language they spoke, and then had them sent to the village where she'd been. It was so easy to make them work that everybody could listen to God's word once again.
I really enjoyed her stay, and if you could pray for her and her work with the sailor men, I'm sure she would appreciate it!