Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men Psa. 107:8
O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him. Psa. 34:8
How great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee! Psa. 31:19
This people have I formed for myself; they shall shew forth my praise. Isa. 43:21
Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ. Eph. 1:5, 6, 12
How great is his goodness, and how great is his beauty! Zech. 9:17
The LORD is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works. All thy works shall praise thee, O LORD; and thy saints shall bless thee. They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom, and talk of thy power; to make known to the sons of men his mighty acts, and the glorious majesty of his kingdom. Psa. 145:9-12
******
God's goodness is manifest most of all in His unfailing love as Christ hung there on the cross for us.. crying "Father forgive them, for they knoweth not what they do."
Goodness of God keeps on giving and giving and giving again.
May we go this day and do likewise.
Praying much.
May God bless America.
No matter what the very left media say it will in all likelihood be weeks before it's settled.
Prayer is vital.
Let us join together at the throne of grace, even here in Australia, my heart is deeply burdened for a nation God loves.
He says of Israel "I will bless those that bless thee, curse those who curse thee. " may the GOOD Trump has done not be undone, especially in relation to Israel, God's chosen nation.
In 2000 it hung in balance for weeks between Al Gore and Bush.. till miraculously God's man, Bush, won out.
May the Lord do so again, David be Victor against Goliath.
Mercy LORD mercy..
Thank you especially if you take the time to leave a comment, that’s deeply appreciated.
So very much. Praying God’s watch care upon you and all you love - wherever you maybe.
“Our Heavenly Father knoweth.”
“He careth for you.”
Prayer Hugs, 🙏🤗❤️
Shaz in Oz.x
Edit:
For Aussies, who maybe know very little of US politics other than what you hear in our very left wing media, let me explain why I and most evangelical Americans are for Trump.
He's a good man with a foolish mouth (as have I, too often also).
He unlike Biden, a politician of 47 years experience, will not play the media games. That's why the media don't like him.
Trump is a businessman, not a politician, that's why he's been good for business, for Israel, for the armed forces, for farmers, standing up to the Bully China, brokering peace deals in the Middle East not wars, like every other president before him for decades, and the list goes on.
You only have to look at the person they've chosen to be Vice President.
Biden chose Kamala Harris she is really, really bad news. Her deeds may well make you weep. She's extreme left wing. 😥😥😥
It's a very left wing communist Biden against a God-loving, Israel-loving Trump.
For more details in dot points clarified, read this short post here.
Asking ourselves - the better choice for 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸... may the answer then spur us onto pray for US.
This seems a very apt thought in respect to results whatever they maybe!
May God have mercy.
Thanks to Diane Rozino for this most apt scripture.
PS If you haven’t I'd love it you to join as a wonderful encourager of this blog ... link HERE. Thank YOU to those who have done so already. It really encourages me to keep on. 😊
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"The Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon Him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge, and of the fear of the LORD. And shall make Him of quick understanding in the fear of the LORD." Isa. 11:2, 3
O Lord Father God, May I daily drink deeply of the wisdom of Thy Word, may I be filled with the beauty, the fullness of Thy Spirit - "the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge, and of the fear of the LORD.." without You, Lord I can do nothing, take me, this day and EVERY day, use it all for Thy glory, in the beautiful Name of Jesus, Amen.
If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. James 1:5
Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In ALL thy ways acknowledge him, AND he shall direct thy paths. Prov. 3:5, 6
May we let our light so shine before men, that we may glorify our Father Who is in Heaven.. today and every day.
This post has extended a little due to a current burden and is dedicated to Josiah’s family and their present overwhelmingly, sad situation.
*** Please take a moment to PRAY for God to rule in their current calamity, and if it be the Lord's will preserve their little family completely whole in Him for His glor.
Update: Little baby Asher is now with Jesus. Pray for this young family now struggling with this loss, especially realising it was a tragic accident, allowed of God, for His higher, wiser purposes. God sees what we cannot.
He Makes No Mistake
My Father's way may twist and turn,
My heart may throb and ache,
But in my soul I'm glad to know,
He maketh no mistake.
My cherished plans may go astray,
My hopes may fade away,
But still I'll trust my Lord to lead,
For He doth know the way.
Tho' night be dark and it may seem
That day will never break,
I'll pin my faith, my all, in Him,
He maketh no mistake.
There's so much now I cannot see,
My eyesight far too dim,
But come what may,
I'll simply trust and leave it all to Him.
For by and by the mist will lift,
And plain it all He'll make,
Through all the way, tho' dark to me,
He made not one mistake.
—A. M. Overton, 1932
And another different beautiful one - the link here if not showing. Doesn't always show in new blogger sadly.
Most profund of prayers according to Oswald Chambers "Utmost for my Highest ". Oct.31
"Thou He slay me, yet will I trust in Him." Job 13:15
Thank you especially if you take the time to leave a comment, that’s deeply appreciated.
So very much. Praying God’s watch care upon you and all you love - wherever you maybe.
“Our Heavenly Father knoweth.”
“He careth for you.”
Prayer Hugs, 🙏🤗❤️
Shaz in Oz.x
Ps If you haven’t I'd love it you to join as a wonderful encourager of this blog ... link HERE. Thank YOU to those who have done so already. It really encourages me to keep on. 😊
If you'd like these posts in your inbox, you can add your email to email link option on side bar. If you're on a mobile device on which there is no sidebar, then scroll down and select "View Web Version" at very bottom of post. This will bring up sidebar and "follow by email" link. Thank YOU
This is the thought impressed upon me as I've just in 3 months colour coded two full bibles, and one NT and Psalms in large print for a dear unsaved Catholic friend.
Why are we so blessed, and perhaps so unappreciative of this blessing?
1. Upon salvation we received the indwelling Holy Spirit.
" And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;
Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.
But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
John 14:16-17,26
The believers in Old Testament, the disciples before Pentacost, early church believers and until printing press invention, were not thus blessed.
2. We have the whole overview of scripture from Genesis 1:1 to Revelation 22:21 in our hands today - in many, many forms, printed or digital word, or upon our walls, our calendars, etc.
REMEMBER: Given much, we are also accountable much!
" For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more."
Luke 12:48
So I must walk in this light or else I will judged for it.
"So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God."
Romans 14:12
Why I colour code is simple.
The why I colour code is because of the command I learnt as a prayer when first saved as a child over 50 years ago.
"Open Thou mine eyes, that I might behold wondrous things out of Thy law”
( Or out of Thy Word). Psalm 119:18
..it opens my eyes to think more deeply about it as I read.
Now I will share in photos HOW I do it.
I began to colour code when I first started reading the Bible all the way through in 1978. My desire was to read the bible through for every year I was saved. As I'd been saved twelve years when I started (my testimony here) I had a bit of catching up to do. 😄
Tip: Reading 4 chapters a day, takes you through bible in a year.
Ten chapters a day, you read through two and half times in a year.
I did this in my youth, no TV, few other night time distractions, not a lot of money, so casting myself upon my Lord was good.
As I've now been saved over 50 years I've read my bible though for each year saved. About fifteen years ago I acheived my goal of a reading it through for each year saved.
One thing I learnt this year in colour coding two and half bibles through in three months, is how VERY patient long-suffering our Father God is, how often we fail, yet He lovingly forgives and takes us back.
We shake our heads at the rebellious foolishness of Israel, etc., yet they had no indwelling spirit, no bible at their fingertips to keep them each day!!
So here below are some photos.
**There are no hard and fast rules.
A friend shared it back in 1978, and so I did it as I read.
I've done some more detailed colours and themes than others, the ones I'm sharing are simpler than my own personal bibles.
**Your bible, your needs are yours, be guided by the Spirit of God.
“The vital relationship which the
Christian has to the Bible is not that he worships the letter, but that
the Holy Spirit makes the words of the Bible spirit and life to him.”
Oswald Chambers
The Psychology of Redemption, 1066 L
My first bible is rather a hodge-podge... a learning curve. As you can see!
I did another after it, however it was too detailed so am not sharing it.
This is my mother’s bible I did for her, a big print New Testament and Psalms. It’s a good starting place and I used it for some of bibles I did this year, varied it with my Catholic friend’s New Testament and Psalms. I changed the colour of Jesus’ themed verses from pink to purple to emphasise His deity as she read, or that was my prayer.
So this is her bible, it was a hardcover so I covered it. First is on inside.
Here I am working on it, using my mother's as guide. A small set-square is a handy tool.
And here is one of the full bibles, in two different bible publications.
This is the back page of one, they were mostly the same. I wrote an inscription page, too with special verses. I earnestly pray they’re read and not dust gatherers. This is in Isaiah, a double page then one section up close.
Isaiah and Hebrews are my favourite books.
A whole bible takes well over 100 hours, the NT Psalms took about 70 hours, but really, truly I have no exact idea. That’s a rough guess, some days were 8 hours of colouring, with breaks.
In one photo you can see I’d calculated how many pages to colour each day, think it was 130 pages each day to get it done by required time. In some books that’s easy, like Leviticus 😊 .. but not so easy in others.
Hopefully this will encourage you.
Digging into God’s word is the richest treasure we can mine on this earth.
None of those hours of colouring were wasted.
My life, my heart is much richer for it.
You get an overview of books as stories you will never see any other way!
God’s word never ever returns void.
May I also challenge you to read your bible all the way through, too?
As a Bible College lecturer said to us, in challenging us about reading our bibles through:
“It’d be rather embarrassing to run into Obadiah in heaven and say, ‘Oops! Sorry, no, never managed to read your book, Obadiah’, especially as his book is only one chapter long!”
I’m sorry my posts are so sporadic in appearance, but perhaps after this one you will see where some of my time has gone. I hope to post a little more regularly from now, God enabling me. My health is always variable.
May our Lord God bless you if you’ve read all this way.
I’ll share a piece of calligraphy, a bookmark I made for a dear saint in our church who has a VERY heavy load at the moment.
Psalm 142:3
When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, THEN thou knewest my path.
Thank you especially if you take the time to leave a comment, that’s deeply appreciated.
So very much.
Prayer Hugs, 🙏🤗❤️
Shaz in Oz.x
PS . If you haven’t I'd love it you to join as a wonderful encourager of this blog ... link HERE. Thank YOU to those who have done so already. It really encourages me to keep on. 😊
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Written before the Pentateuch (Genesis to Deuteronomy) Job lived in a time of NO printed Word of God, NO indwelling holy Spirit, and really very little light spiritually - when compared with that which we are blessed today.
Yet Job appropriated, or took by faith, the very same mercy and grace available to us, in midst of deep devastation and affliction, and such active condemnation by his "friends". They executed this condemnation by blow upon blow.
Job breathed, lived, followed these words, resting in ALL the depth of their meaning.
"BUT He knoweth the way that I take,
when He hath tried me,
I shall come forth as gold."
*****
May I do likewise, every moment resting in Thee, O Lord.
For Thy yoke is easy, Thy burden is light, when all is done in Thy strength, by Thy grace, in Jesus' name, for Thy glory.
Amen.
*****
I am praying for you in all your trials and burdens, and
Praying, too, for our nations' leaders, for God's blessing and mercy upon us in spite of our wickedness. Praying, pleading for repentance, revival and rain across our lands.
Thanks to all who pop across to this blog and Thank you too if you can leave some love and encouragement.
Prayer hugs,🙏🤗
Shaz in Oz. X
PS apologies for not blogging.
I’ve been ill, hence very little blogging.
Details on my craft blog.. here and the following update here.
PS . If you haven’t I'd love it you to join as a wonderful encourager of this blog ... link HERE. Thank YOU to those who have done so already. It really encourages me to keep on. 😊
If you'd like these posts in your inbox, you can add your email to email link option on side bar. If you're on a mobile device on which there is no sidebar, then scroll down and select "View Web Version" at very bottom of post. This will bring up sidebar and "follow by email" link. Thank YOU
*Recently I heard a visiting preacher sharing how he appreciated new ones praying for him, for his faithful elderly brethren who had long prayed for him were passing on!
However true this maybe, I was saddened this young pastor had not realised their prayers are not attached to the physical presence on earth of those saints on earth.
I've seen mighty prayer warriors, like Bro Mac who I've mentioned before, who prayed 8 hours a day over maps of countries, so burdened for lost far off ones.
Our prayers don't evapourate, they are lifted before our Father God until answered, His time and way, not ours.
*****
Those prayers have either been answered, are still being answered, or in future will be so.
Our Brother Mac, now in heaven - will see the final answer to those decades old prayers by faith!
Prayer is of Spirit, of God's realm.
A prayer of faith is a perpetual prayer, until it’s answered.
If someone ask us for something, we may reply yes, no, maybe or wait.
God is the same.
To be answered and effective it must be a prayer of faith.
Let’s look a little into scripture on this.
Faith IS:
Faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen. Heb. 11:1
Not seen. That is why prayer is faith. And of Spirit. We’re praying to an unseen God. Unseen but oh, so real in our heart IF we know Him as own Lord and Saviour.
Without faith it is impossible to please Him. Hebrews 11:6a
If we have not sought the Lord Jesus Christ as our Saviour from sin, we cannot please Him!
Let’s investigate the perpetual aspect of the prayer of faith.
The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. James 5:17
These verses were spoken of Elijah (full story in 1 Kings18:17-46). A mighty man of faith and prayer, who said the rain would cease for 3 and half years, due to King Ahab greatly sinful ways.
Three and half years later Elijah prayed.. prayed over a long cloudless sky, seven times he sent his servant the top of the hill... nought! Then 7th time, a cloud the size of a man's hand. Elijah raced Ahab and the rain to the city.
I especially love Elijah’s request for God to hear Him. I often pray this verse, which Elijah prayed.
Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that thou art the Lord God, and that thou hast turned their heart back again. 1 Kings 18:37
Elijah's prayer for Israel is still being answered in hearts, lives of the nation of Israel and beyond today.. that God in mercy would turn back hearts again to Him!
The LORD Jesus, used the sword of the Spirit the Word of God in His time of temptation with Satan. It is our sword in the battle of prayer also (Eph. 6:10 -18)
May I challenge you to pray, pleading the blood of the Lamb, as you pray these verses below for souls.
(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; 2 Cor. 10:4-5
*****
Every prayer of faith we pray or have ever prayed is as incense before the LORD.
Revelation 8:2-4 And I saw the seven angels which stood before God; and to them were given seven trumpets. And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel's hand. Prayers of all saints, ascending in heaven, even now as we read, and then in the time of those verses, which is in the time of Great Tribulation to come.
Decades, centuries or millennia may pass (as with Paul’s, Daniels, Ezra’s and many other mighty prayers in scripture), yet that prayer is still lifted before God's glorious rainbow throne of grace, where we find grace to to help in time of need. (Heb. 4:16)
Prayer, heartfelt earnest covered by the blood of Lamb is always lifted there, till answered. This is the PURPOSE of perpetual prayer.. prayer lifted until answered. God is glorified. I will close with this mighty saying by John Bunyan. (Saying seen last week in a card on dear Maxine's blog - thanks sis.)
Pray often, for prayer is a shield to the soul, a sacrifice to God, and a scourge for Satan. John Bunyan was imprisoned for preaching the gospel and wrote the Pilgrim's Progress! He lived, breathed prayer. John knew the length, depth, breadth of the wonderful grace of Jesus.
Hymn link here also. May we do likewise! I normally would apologise for the length of this post, but this is one subject which can never be too long. It is such precious a gift to us. May we daily realise the greatness of God's gift of PRAYER!
I pray it blesses you as it did me.
If things are difficult, I pray earnestly for you for God's comfort.
"Our Heavenly Father knoweth. "
"He careth for you."
And thank you so much to all who encourage me with this blog.
You bless me so!
Prayer hugs, 🙏🤗
Shaz in Oz.x
*post starts "recently", but was begun in pre-COVID times four months or more ago. Often posts take much meditation and prayer to write. This was definitely one. They deepen as they go.
PS . If you haven’t I'd love it you to join as a wonderful encourager of this blog ... link HERE. Thank YOU to those who have done so already. It really encourages me to keep on. 😊
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