My Time?

LORD, I pray that in this entire day before me, You would so direct my thoughts, words, attitudes, and actions so that they will be pleasing to You.  You are the loving Master and LORD of all there is, including me.  "My time" is a total misnomer. Because You have loved me and given Yourself for me, I belong to You, everything I am and have belongs to You.  And yet, I so often think that once our quiet time is over, the rest of the day is "mine."  Nothing could be further from the truth.

Yet, even if I want to do something "for me," with my time, what better object of my attention than the sovereign, wonderful, loving Ruler of the Universe? What better fulfillment could there possibly be?  Why would I choose my occupations, my fulfillment (trifles!) when YOU are mine and I am Yours?!  Precious Father, Jesus my Rescuer, and sweet Spirit, please move me all day long to find my greatest delight and joy in You.

Prayer for Seeing with Gospel Eyes

Lord of Hosts, 

Open our eyes to see the evidences of your grace throughout this day
Open our ears to hear the preaching of your Gospel through the mouths of our friends
Open our hearts to behold and marvel at the glories of who you are and what you've done since ages past, and
Open our minds to grasp the excellencies of your very precious Word preserved for us in the pages of our Bibles.

We are in need, Father; help us to open our mouths so that you might fill us
We are in need of seeing you more and more for who you really are in your glory and sufficiency, to give us the perspective we need
We are in need of your comfort, your conviction, your assurances of your sufficiency for all things.
We are in need of being reminded that the Gospel is the power of salvation and sanctification,
We are in need of your perspective for all the turmoil and suffering we see in this world, and to remember that you alone hold all the answers, all the power, all the grace that we need for today.  
And we need to be reminded that you will supply all that we need for life and godliness according to the riches of our glorious inheritance.  

All of this is because we have You, Jesus. I have no merit of my own to approach You, yet because of Jesus Christ I may come boldly before You and I know that You will welcome me not because of anything good I've done, but because of all that Jesus has done.

The only reason I am able to ask any of these is because the precious and only begotten Son of the Father lived the life I should have lived and did it all perfectly, lovingly, for your glory, and then yielded up his life as an atoning sacrifice for my sins, taking the wrath that was due to me for my rebellion, and giving me instead His own perfect righteousness, forgiveness and justification. And to top it all off, You have graciously adopted me, the proud rebel-now-reborn, as a child of the King. You've also sealed and filled me with your wonderful Holy Spirit, providing your presence within me now, and I get to be with You forever. Hallelujah!

Thank You!

Prayer for Seeing with Gospel Eyes

Lord of Hosts, 

Open our eyes to see the evidences of your grace throughout this day
Open our ears to hear the preaching of your Gospel through the mouths of our friends
Open our hearts to behold and marvel at the glories of who you are and what you've done since ages past, and
Open our minds to grasp the excellencies of your very precious Word preserved for us in the pages of our Bibles.

We are in need, Father; help us to open our mouths so that you might fill us
We are in need of seeing you more and more for who you really are in your glory and sufficiency, to give us the perspective we need
We are in need of your comfort, your conviction, your assurances of your sufficiency for all things.
We are in need of being reminded that the Gospel is the power of salvation and sanctification,
We are in need of your perspective for all the turmoil and suffering we see in this world, and to remember that you alone hold all the answers, all the power, all the grace that we need for today.  
And we need to be reminded that you will supply all that we need for life and godliness according to the riches of our glorious inheritance.  

All of this is because we have You, Jesus. I have no merit of my own to approach You, yet because of Jesus Christ I may come boldly before You and I know that You will welcome me not because of anything good I've done, but because of all that Jesus has done.

The only reason I am able to ask any of these is because the precious and only begotten Son of the Father lived the life I should have lived and did it all perfectly, lovingly, for your glory, and then yielded up his life as an atoning sacrifice for my sins, taking the wrath that was due to me for my rebellion, and giving me instead His own perfect righteousness, forgiveness and justification. And to top it all off, You have graciously adopted me, the proud rebel-now-reborn, as a child of the King. You've also sealed and filled me with your wonderful Holy Spirit, providing your presence within me now, and I get to be with You forever. Hallelujah!

Thank You!

Thanks and Refreshing Grace

Good morning!  It's been years since anything was posted in this space, and I had very nearly forgotten all about it.  That is, until I read Out of the Ordinary's blog this morning (http://out-of-theordinary.blogspot.ca) and there was this little link in the upper right-hand corner, to my blog.  Which happens because we both happen to use the same "blogspot" vehicle.  Anyhoo,,,,,

Things for which I am thankful:
1) Jesus, and the unsearchable riches we find IN HIM, in relationship with him and our union with him.  Eph. 1:3-14; Titus 3:3-7
2) The family into which God has placed me, my dear husband and best friend (Fred).  My Mom and Dad whose birthdays on earth would have been celebrated this month, but now they're with Jesus, and I think every day is a birthday celebration there! My brother and his wife, my twin nieces and their family who are up in Oregon (note the photo!!)
3) My church family at Redeemer Church of Bakersfield (http://www.redeemerbakersfield.org), where we are fed and nourished with the aforementioned unsearchable riches of Christ (see No, 1, above!).
4) Current crop of great worship music from Austin Stone, Indelible Grace, Sovereign Grace (Kauflin, etc.), Audrey Assad, Keith and Kristen Getty.
5) My peeps at 2 retirement homes in Bakersfield where we get to study the Word together, one of which has been going on for years, and the other, just a bit less than a year.  Dear people of my parents' generation who love the Word, the promises, the daily bread-ness of Bible nourishment.  Precious!!
6) Our Redeemed Life Group, prayer group, Women2Women, and informal One2Ones as we all meet together and preach the Gospel to one another and help each other live out the redeemed life in the midst of a culture that pulls us in 19 different directions at once, some of them not-so-bad but most of them alien to the body of Christ.  We are being the church wherever we go and we get to travel on this road together.  Is that a great gift, or what?!?!?  YES!!

So, anyhoo.  That's the post. That photo up there is of a wonderful pool of water on a trail you can take up the Gorge (Columbia River, Oregon side).  The pool is refreshing on a hot summer hike.  May you find the refreshment you need in the person and work of Jesus, who loves you and gave himself for you.