Keep on singing

OldOldTunes-mediumThe scripture for today, August 22 (8/22), is Jeremiah 8:22 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

“Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then is there no healing for the wound of my people?”

Gilead was just across the Jordan River in Palestine with plenty of medicinal healing balsam.  Jeremiah laments that his people have not returned to God, with plenty of  healing balm for their souls. Today, we weep over our nation and hundreds of conflicting denominations that do not return to God. We pray, we weep, we sing our sad songs.

This beautiful African-American spiritual of unknown origin is one of those sad songs. You may be able to hear it sung a cappella here: http://bit.ly/1PfHxrI Here are the words to that spiritual:

There is a balm in Gilead
To make the wounded whole;
There is a balm in Gilead
To heal the sin-sick soul.

Sometimes I feel discouraged,
And think my work’s in vain,
But then the Holy Spirit
Revives my soul again.

If you can’t preach like Peter,
If you can’t pray like Paul,
Just tell the love of Jesus,
And say He died for all.

Keep praying and sharing and singing.

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Give me souls or else I die

Was Jesus God-COVER-kindle-mediumI praise you God of creation. You are the only God, the self-existent one. You are at once the Child who was born, the Son also called Father, and Mighty God. You are the one I worship.  I adore you and look up to you as my Maker, my Protector, my Redeemer from Satan. How can you allow me to be so close to you? It is because you love me without limit. Satan fears you. May I always stand on your side and never believe any of Satan’s lies. No matter what Satan lambastes me with ~ disease, handicap, loss of family, loss of possessions ~ I will never blame you as he wants, and I will remain faithful.  The real world is not here!  It is in your realm. How I adore you.

Lord, I am still discouraged. Why won’t your kingdom grow where I am living? What am I doing wrong that I could be doing to represent you better? Why do lost souls wander from me with their excuses? Oh, Lord, give me souls or else I die.

Father, no matter how lonely and deserted I feel sometimes, I will never forsake you and never compromise. You never forsook me and never compromised. Keep reminding me of that. I shall continue to tell others how much you love them. Until the day I die, I will declare you are the only God and love them so they can open their eyes, see you as you are, and thank you for never giving up on them.  And me ~ you have never given up on me. I bow to you in gratitude.

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You taught the inexpressible

0000-BK 1-StarSong-CHILD'SCartoonCover-MediumAh, my Lord and God. How I adore you. How I want to please you. I am yours forever. You are my life and my love. How you can let me be so close to you amazes me. But you made me and want to beautify my spirit and make my heart strong. You treasure me as a pearl in the sea, a diamond in the sky, a twinkle in your eye. Such love overwhelms me. My soul bows to you and my heart worships you.

Lord God, you materialized and came to earth to show us how to live, love, and die. You continually taught the inexpressible, performed the impossible, and reached the unattainable. Why? So we could attain the unreachable. You left all the glories of heaven for us. You left your majesty for us. You left your sinless world for us. How can I thank you for all you did? For me ~ simple unworthy me. I worship in gratitude and always will.

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With you my soul is at peace

00-1st Century Worship KINDLE-COVER-ThumbnailLord God Almighty, as long as I walk with you, I am safe. Nothing others can say or do to me can harm me. They may insult me, threaten me, beat me, but all the while I will be safe. I will not hear their words because your words will echo through my mind ~ words of love and comfort. I will not notice their threats because I will be hiding under the shadow of your wings and only hear your breath of life.  I will not feel the beatings they batter me with because I will feel only your loving arms around me. Lord, with you I am strong. With you my soul is at peace.

Ah, my Lord, I remember the day of my baptism. It was long ago, but I remember everything about it. I remember walking up and sitting on the front pew. I remember the preacher asking me if I believed Jesus is the Son of God. I said yes, but in my young heart I thought the question was so unnecessary because, of course he is the Son of God!  I remember my mother and her friend helping me put on a white robe and stepping down into the baptistry. I remember the preacher’s words: “I now baptized you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit for the forgiveness of your sins.” I remember leaning back and going down into the water. Most vividly I remember coming up out of the water and telling myself, “I am sinless! I am pure!” Thank you for making all this possible and for the good memory of it.

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You held out your arms to me

I lift up my praises to you, Jehovah, God of the universe. You are the ultimate love, for though mankind has left you, you want us back so we can 0-BK 2-DreamMaker-cover-kindle-medium-newdelight in each other’s presence. As a new-born baby, I think perhaps I must have been aware of you, having just left your presence. But as I grew older, I drifted farther from you. When I became grown, I did things you were ashamed of. But you pursued me anyway. Your love was stubborn. Your love was such a powerful and mighty and driving force. You reached out to me over and over. Though I ran from you a little while, I gradually realized you were not going to let me go. I gradually realized the potency of your love. When I turned toward you, you held out your holy arms to me and welcomed me back home.

My Lord, sometimes I am tired. I do not want to do anything but sit and stare or go for long walks. Sometimes I am discouraged. I am at a lost what to do next, so I do nothing. Sometimes I feel so inadequate, I lie down and refuse to do anything at all. At those times, you smile, take my hand, and whisper, “It’s okay. Go ahead and rest. I’ll send one of my angels to sit with you. When you are ready, I’ll be ready too.  You do not need to ask my forgiveness, for there is nothing to forgive.  Rest now and be at peace.” Thank you for being so understanding, my Lord.

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Me, Lord? Me?

00-hero-alone-cover-kindle-mediumOh Lord, my God. I do not always understand you. But I trust you no matter what happens in my personal life, in my city, my nation, the world. I know you have everything under control. You step back sometimes to let the true motives of bad people be seen at the expense of people they hurt. I do not always understand you. But I trust you no matter what happens to my body during plagues and to the earth during natural disasters. No matter what happens, I will trust you and praise you. I will never turn away from you as long as you give me strength to do so. May I die praising you.

My Father, thank you for making me your child. I am a child of the Creator of greater things than I can ever see or understand ~ me just a spec in the cosmos! How is that possible? I am a child of the King over all kings, the Lord over all lords. I am a child of the self-existent one who chose to make me, protect me, and love me. Me, Lord?  Me?  I fall at your feet in gratitude and heart thanks.

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As long as my heart beats

Supper-Front Cover-MediumAs long as there is breath in me, I will praise you. As long as my heart beats, I will praise you. As long as I have a lucid mind, I will praise you. Though I may be beaten to deny you, in my weakness I will praise you. Though I may be imprisoned for not denying you, in my restraint I will praise you. Though they may threaten to kill me, at the moment of my death I will praise you. As long as it is within my being to do so, I will praise you, my Lord and my God.

Thank you for coming to our world as the kind of man you created. With that, you made my salvation possible. Salvation from Sin, Satan and Death and that hopeless prison of hell.  You rescued me. You ransomed me. You bought me back. All to take me home with you to heaven. And everyone else who once turned against you. Thank you for forgiving me and all the others. Thank you for such astounding love that soars through the universe to my heart.

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https://inspirationsbykatheryn.wordpress.com/the-lords-supper-52-readings-with-prayers/

The basin of blood

0-BOOK 7-SHADOW-ChildsCartoonMediumAh, my Lord God. Everywhere I look, you are there. You leap from mountain to mountain as stepping stones. You throw out seeds of pine and spruce and fir, and forests appear. You blow on them, they fall, and deserts appear.  You step into the oceans, stir them up, and laugh when their waves leap with joy. You are in the chirpings of the birds, the giggles of a child, the echoes in canyons.  You are in the gentle breezes, the laughing brooks, the slumbering meadows. Everywhere I look and you are there, dear Lord. More wondrous still will be when I see you face to face.

There is a basin of blood at the foot of your cross.  You washed me and made me clean when I was baptized in that blood. That which was crimson and laden with grief, made me pure and white and overflowing with joy.  How can this be? What you went through for me. How you fought Satan for my spirit, my life, my soul.  I do not understand your strength, but I know it is greater than Satan’s.  He made you bleed, but the life that flowed out of you with that blood became the water of life. Thank you for all you did for me. I worship you.

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https://inspirationsbykatheryn.wordpress.com/a-childs-life-of-christ-book-7-shadow-of-death/?frame-nonce=9bf6873c93

My weariness you make sweet

The scripture for today, August 13 (8/13), is Isaiah 8:13f as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

Silver Cover-KINDLE-thumbnail“The Lord Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy, he is the one you are to fear, he is the one you are to dread, and he will be a sanctuary.”

Righteous God in heaven, so far and yet so near. You made the rules so I wouldn’t hurt myself. No matter how hard I wanted you to change them, you refused to change. You are forever the same. My rock. My foundation, My wall of salvation. My sword of truth. My rainbow of love.  You have clothed me with your perfection because I can never attain it. You have clothed me with your purity because this I can never accomplish either. You have clothed me with your majesty to rule with you somewhere in your realm someday because I could never have the wisdom or patience you do.  You have given the earth to me, and all that is in it to rule with you. You have granted me a canopy of stars over my head and a rainbow of delight to encircle my heart. I love you, my God.

From the night, you call forth light.  From the soil, you call forth a flower. My tears, you turn into diamonds. My laughter, you turn into mountains of love. My weariness you make be sweet, peaceful rest before the dawn. My soul rises to meet yours, my heart flies to touch yours, my mind, my understanding soars to try to understand you. You are so great, and I am so small.  Yet you love me so. I do not deserve it, for I am sinful. You love me still. I worship you.

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It should have been me

0-BK 7-ShadowOfDeath-Cover-new-MediumJehovah God, your very name is holy. Anywhere you dwell is holy. You are pure in every way. You are the Maker of all things, the constant companion of all things, and the lover of all. You are as high above all things as a speck of dust is to the uttermost and unknown boundaries of the cosmos. You have always been, you are, and will always be.   Everything you made bows down to you ~ the mountains, the seas, the starry hosts. I bow at your feet and offer my crown to you. For I am nothing.

It was my face that should have been slapped that midnight, not yours. It was my back that should have been beaten raw that dark night, not yours. It was my blood that should have poured out of my body from those nails that day, not yours. It was my body that should have been pierced with cruel spikes that day, not yours. It was me that should have cried out in agony that day so long ago, not yours. You took my place so I would not have to suffer the punishment I deserved. I do not understand such love but I will thank you eternally.

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