Darkness to Light - Sarah Young

Seek My Face and you will find fulfillment of your deepest longings.

My world is filled with beautiful things; they are meant to be pointers to Me, reminders of My abiding Presence.

The earth still declares My glory to those who have eyes that see and ears that hear.

You had a darkened mind before you sought Me wholeheartedly.

I chose to pour My Light into you so you can be a beacon to others.

There is no room for pride in this position.

Your part is to reflect My Glory!

I am the LORD!

See, darkness covers the earth

and thick darkness is over the peoples,

but the LORD rises upon you and

His glory appears over you.

Isaiah 60:2

Look to the LORD and His strength; seek His face always.

Psalm 105:4

How Science Can Help - Lis Wiehl

It seemed rational and logical to believe in God, in that the world itself, the universe, had  a logic to it, independent of anybody's perception or interpretation; immutable mathematical and physical laws that would exist even if human beings never existed, and the way to study and understand that logic was through reason and science and skeptical inquiry. 

Some people worried that science was going to somehow explain away the mystery or wonder, or that there was something anti-theological about it, but there wasn't a single scientific discovery she could think of that didn't create more wonder and open the door to greater mysteries.

And to her way of thinking God was that infinite wonder and boundless mystery.....


--From Waking Hours, by Lis Wiehl

Who Knows God's Will? - Henry Blackaby

The Holy Spirit will never misunderstand the Father's will for your life. The Father has a purpose to work out through your life, and He places His Spirit in you so you don't miss it.

The Spirit's job is to guide you according to the Father's will. Then He enables you to do God's will. You are completely dependent on God for the knowledge and ability to accomplish His purposes.

That is why your relationship with Him is crucial. That is why you need to wait until you have heard a word from Him about His purposes and ways.

Jesus is your example of One who never failed to know and do His Father's will. Everything the Father purposed to do through His life, the Lord Jesus did immediately.

What was the key to His success? He was always rightly related to the Father! If you walk in a consistent relationship with God's provision--the provision of His Son, His Holy Spirit and His presence in your life--then you should never come to a time when you do not know the Father's will. Nor should there be a time when you are not enabled to carry out His will.

In Jesus we have the picture of a solitary life in a love relationship with God, consistently living out that relationship. He is the perfect example.

You and I quickly realize we are a long way from that. True! But the Christ who lived His life in complete obedience is fully present in you to enable you to know and to do His will.

We need to adjust our lives to God and consistently live out that relationship with absolute dependence on Him. He will never fail to lead your life into the middle of His purpose and enable you to do it.

         --From Experiencing God,
       by Henry and Richard Blackaby and Claude King

It's going to be a long day! - Sarah Young

Come to Me, and rest in My loving Presence.

You know that this day will bring difficulties, and you are trying to think your way through those trials.

As you anticipate what is ahead of you, you forget that I am with you -- now and always.

Rehearsing your troubles results in experiencing them many times, whereas you are meant to go through them only when they actually occur.

Do not multiply your suffering in this way!

Instead, come to Me, and relax in My Presence.

I will strengthen you and prepare you for this day, transforming your fear into confident trust.


Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.  Joshua 1:9

Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.  Matthew 11:28-30


He said, "Learn from Me....."

Oh well! - Sarah Young

Try to see things more and more from My perspective.


Let the light of My Presence so fully fill your mind that you view the world through Me.


When little things don't go as you had hoped, look to Me lightheartedly and say, "Oh, well!"


This simple discipline can protect you from being burdened with an accumulation of petty cares and frustrations.


If you practice this diligently, you will make a life-changing discovery: you will realize that most of the things that worry you are not important. If you shrug them off immediately and return your focus to Me, you will walk through your days with lighter steps and a joyful heart.


When serious problems come your way, you will have more reserves for dealing with them. You will have not squandered your energy on petty problems.


You may even reach the point where you can agree with the Apostle Paul, that all your troubles are light and momentary compared with the eternal glory being achieved by them.

A man's steps are directed by the LORD. How then can anyone understand his own way?
Proverbs 20:24

For our light and momentary troubles are achieving us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

2 Corinthians 4:17-18

Dean Koontz comments on Evil --

The devil and all his demons are dull and predictable because of their single-minded rebellion against truth. Crime itself --as opposed to the solving of it-- is boring to the complex mind, though endlessly fascinating to the simpleminded.

One film about Hannibal Lecter is riveting, but a second is inevitably stupefying.

We have a series hero, but a series villain quickly becomes silly as he strives so obviously to shock us.

Virtue is imaginative, evil repetitive.

~~~~~~

Some people misunderstand evil and believe it will relent, and because their misplaced hope inspires dark hearts to dream darker dreams, they are the fathers and mothers of all wars.

Evil does not relent; it must be defeated. And even when defeated, uprooted, and purified by fire, evil leaves behind a seed that will one day germinate and, in blooming, again be misunderstood.


---From Odd Apocalypse, by Dean Koontz
   

On whose side are you? Charles Spurgeon

And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh

shall see it together. Isaiah 40:5

We anticipate the happy day when every knee will bow down before Christ; when the gods of the heathen shall be cast to the moles and the bats; when empty religion will be exploded, and the crescent of Mohammed will topple, never again to cast its harmful rays upon the nations; when kings shall worship before the Prince of Peace, and all nations shall call the Redeemer blessed.

Some despair of this.

They look on the world as a ship breaking up and going to pieces, never to float again. 

We know that the world and all that is in it will one day be burned up, and afterwards we look for new heavens and for a new earth; but we cannot read our Bibles without the conviction that --

Jesus shall reign where'er the sun

Doth his successive journeys run.

We are not discouraged by the length of His delays; we are not disheartened by the long period that He assigns to the church in which to struggle with little success and much defeat.

We believe that God will never tolerate this world, which has once seen Christ's blood shed upon it, remaining as the devil's stronghold.

Christ came here to deliver this world from the detested sway of the powers of darkness.

What a shout that will be when men and angels unite to cry "Hallelujah! For the Lord our God Almighty reigns!"

What a satisfaction it will be in that day to have had a part in the fight to have helped to break the arrows of the bow, and to have shared  in winning the victory for our Lord!

Happy are those who entrust themselves to this conquering Lord, and who fight side by side with Him doing their part in His name and by His strength!

How unhappy are those on the side of evil! It is a losing side, and it is a matter in whixh to lose is to lose and to be lost forever.

On whose side are you?

I am bell and He is sure wind - Ann Voskamp

I am bell and He is sure wind, and He moves and I am rung and I know it for what it is: this is the other side where Daniel, man of prayer, lived.

Change agent, mover and shaker Daniel, second-to-the-king Daniel, sleeping-on-perfect-peace-in-the-den-of-lions Daniel.

Daniel is a man of power prayer, not because he bends the stiff knees and makes petitions of the High Throne three times a day.

Rather, his prayer moves kings and lion jaws because Daniel "prayed three times a day, just as he had always, giving thanks to His God" (Daniel 6:10, emphasis added).

Three times a day Daniel prayed thanksgiving for the everyday common, for the God-love spilling from the God-heart center of it all....The only real prayers are the ones mouthed with thankful lips.

Because gratitude ushers into the other side of prayer, into the heart of the God-love, and all power to change the world, me, resides here in His love.

Prayer, to be prayer, to have power to change anything, must first speak thanks: "In everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God (Philippians 4:6).

"First I tell you to pray for all people, asking God for what they need and being thankful to Him"
(1 Timothy 2:1).

Prayer without ceasing is only possible in a life of continual thanks.

How did I ever think there was another way to enter into His courts but with thanksgiving?

Enter His gates with thanksgiving

and His courts with praise

Give thanks to Him and praise His name.

For the LORD is good and His love endures forever;

His faithfulness continues through all generations.

Psalm 100:4-5

From One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp

Nobody wanted her! - Sally Lloyd-Jones

And Jacob loved Rachel more than Leah....(Genesis 29:30)

"No one loves me," Leah said. "I'm too ugly."

But God didn't think she was ugly. And when He saw that Leah was not loved and that no one wanted her, God chose her  -- specially, to give her a very important job.

One day, God was going to rescue the whole world -- through Leah's family.

Now when Leah knew that God loved her, in her heart, suddenly it didn't matter anymore whether her husband loved her the best, or if she was the prettiest.

Someone had chosen her, Someone did love her -- with a Never-Stopping, Never-Giving-Up, Unbreaking,
Always and Forever Love.

So when  Leah had a baby boy she called him Judah, which means, "This time I will praise the Lord!"

And that's just what she did.

And you'll never guess what job God gave Leah.

You see, when God looked at Leah He saw a princess.

And sure enough, that's what she became.

One of Leah's children's children's children would be a prince -- the Prince of Heaven -- God's Son.

This Prince would love God's people.

They wouldn't have to be beautiful for Him to love them.

He would love them with all of His heart.

And they would be beautiful because He loved them.

Like Leah.

         -- From The Jesus Storybook Bible
                  by Sally Lloyd-Jones



[Read the whole story of Jacob, Leah and Rachel, and their twelve sons in the Old Testament, book of Genesis, chapters 29 and 30. And read the genealogy of Jesus Christ, a descendant of Jacob and Leah, and King David,  in the New Testament, book of Matthew, Chapter 1.]

Christmas on June 25 - How Silently

Everything was ready.

The moment God had been preparing for was here at last!

God was coming to help His people, just as He promised in the beginning.

But how would He come?

What would He be like?

What would He do?

Mountains would have bowed down.

Seas would have roared.

Trees would have danced and clapped their hands.

But the earth held its breath.

As silent as snow falling, He came in.

And when no one was looking, in the darkness, He came. 
             -- From The Jesus Story Book Bible,
                      by Sally Lloyd-Jones


This is a really good time to ponder the meaning of Christmas. In the glittering loudness and dazzling clamor in December, it is often easy to miss the "silent gift."

How silently, how silently,

His wondrous gift is given.

So God imparts to human hearts

The blessings of His heaven.

No ear can hear His coming -

But in this world of sin,

Where meek souls will receive Him,

Still the dear Christ enters in!

 -- O Little Town  of Bethlehem,

by Philips Brooks

But these are the early days of summer - a time to stop a moment and reflect - before fall rushes into our lives and when we will have little time to stop and wonder about it all - sort of like those few seconds we are perched at the top of the roller coaster, knowing very quickly it will begin its tumultuous and exciting descent!

This is the time to stop and wonder - marvel again at His matchless gift -

But when the time had fully come

God sent His Son, born of a woman,

born under the law, 

to redeem those under law,

that we might receive the full rights as sons.

Because you are sons,

God sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts,

the Spirit who calls out, "Abba, Father,"

...and since you are a son,

God has made you also an heir.

   --Galatians 4:4-7


For the wages of sin is death,
but the gift of God is eternal life
in Christ Jesus our Lord.
--Romans 6:23

My New Clothes - Sarah Young

Wear My Robe of Righteousness with ease.

I custom-made it for you, to cover you from head to toe.

The price I paid for this covering was astronomical --
My own blood.

You could never purchase such a royal garment, no matter how hard you worked.

Sometimes you forget that My Righteousness is a gift, and you feel ill at ease in your regal robe.

I weep when I see you squirming under the velvety fabric, as if it were made of scratchy sackcloth.

I want you to trust Me enough to realize your privileged position in My Kingdom.

Relax in the luxuriant folds of your magnificent robe.

Keep your eyes on Me as you practice walking in this garment of salvation.

When your behavior is unfitting for one in My Kingdom, do not try to throw off your royal robe.

Instead, throw off the unrighteous behavior.

Then you will be able to feel at ease in this glorious garment, enjoying the gift I fashioned for you before the foundation of the world.

I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God,

 for He has clothed me in a robe of righteousness,

and arrayed me in a robe of salvation.  

 Isaiah 61:10

God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us,

so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.

2 Corinthians 5:21

Put off your old self...and put on the new self,

created like God in true righteousness and holiness.

Ephesians 2: 22-24

Sarah Young on Suffering

Be prepared to suffer for Me, in My Name. All suffering has meaning in My kingdom. Pain and problems are opportunities to demonstrate your trust in Me.

Bearing your circumstances bravely--even thanking Me for them -- is one of the highest forms of praise. This sacrifice of thanksgiving rings golden-toned bells of joy throughout heavenly realms. On earth also, your patient suffering sends out ripples of good tidings in ever-widening circles.

When suffering strikes, remember that I am sovereign and that I can bring good out of everything. Do not try to run from pain or hide from problems.

Instead, accept adversity in My Name, offering it up to Me for My purposes. Thus your suffering gains meaning and draws you closer to Me.

Joy emerges from the ashes of adversity through your trust and faithfulness.

                     -- From Jesus Calling, by Sarah Young




Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress.

He sent forth his word and healed them; he rescued them from the grave.

Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men.

Let them sacrifice thank offerings and tell of his works with songs of joy.
                                    -- Psalm 107:19-22

Before Answering the Phone - Sarah Young

Watch your words diligently.

Words have such great power to bless or to wound.

When you speak carelessly or negatively, you damage others as well as yourself.

This ability to verbalize is an awesome privilege, granted to only those I have created in My Image.

You need help in wielding this mighty power responsibly.

Though the world applauds quick-witted retorts, My instructions about communication are quite different: Be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry.

Ask My Spirit to help you when ever you speak.

I have trained you to pray -- "Help me, Holy Spirit" -- before answering the phone, and you have seen the benefits of this discipline.


Simply apply the same discipline to communicating with people around us.

If they are silent, pray before speaking to them.

If they are talking, pray before responding.

These are split-second prayers, but they put you in touch with My Presence.

In this way, your speaking comes under the control of My Spirit.

As positive patterns replace your negative ones, the increase in your Joy will amaze you.

   --- From Jesus Calling, by Sarah Young

Reckless words pierce like a sword,

but the tongue of the wise brings healing.

Proverbs 12:18

Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs,

that it may benefit those who listen.

Ephesians 4:29

My dear brothers, take note of this:

Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak

and slow to become angry.

James 1:19

Not Like My Rose - The Little Prince

The little prince went away, to look again at the roses in the rose garden.

"You are not at all like my rose," he said. "As yet you are nothing. You are empty. No one has tamed you..."

And the roses were very much embarrassed.

"You are beautiful, but you are empty," he went on. "To be sure, an ordinary passer-by would think that my rose, the rose that belongs to me,  looked just like you...

"But in herself she is no more important than all the hundreds of you other roses: because it is she that I have watered; because it is she that I have put under the glass globe; because it is she that I have sheltered behind the screen; because it for her that I have killed the caterpillars (except the two or three that we saved to become butterflies); because it is she that I have listened to, when she grumbled or boasted, or even sometimes when she said nothing.

 "Because she is my rose."

    -- From The Little Prince, by Antoine de Saint-Exuprey

  

God's Word is full of love notes and valentines to us:

• You are my treasured possession (Exodus 19:5)
• It is My desire to lavish My love on you ((I John 3:1)
• I love you with everlasting love (Jeremiah 31:3)
• When you are brokenhearted, I am close to you (Psalm 34:18)
• I will rejoice over you with singing (Zephaniah 3:17)
• I am your Father, and I love you even as I love My Son, Jesus (John 17:23)   
• I am not counting your sins (2 Corinthians 5:18-19)
• I gave up everything I loved that I might gain your love (Romans 8:31-32)

 To list just a few.....

The Name above all Names - Sarah Young

Whenever you feel distant from me, whisper My Name in loving trust. This simple prayer can restore your awareness of My Presence.

My Name is constantly being abused in the world, where people use it is as curse word. This verbal assault reaches all the way to heaven; every word is heard and recorded.

When you trustingly whisper My Name, My aching ears are soothed. The grating rancor of the world's blasphemies cannot compete with a trusting child's utterance, "Jesus."

The power of My Name to bless both you and Me is beyond your comprehension.

  From Sarah Young's, Jesus Calling



A song we sing today...written by Lela Long about 1925...

Jesus is the sweetest name I know

And He's just the same

As His lovely name

And that's the reason why I love Him so

Oh, Jesus is the sweetest name I know.

A hymn from the 12th century AD....

Jesus, the very thought of Thee

With sweetness fills my breast

But sweeter far Thy face to see

And in Thy presence rest.

No voice can sing, no voice can frame

Nor can the memory find

A sweeter sound than Jesus' name

O Savior of mankind!

A hymn by John Newton, written about 1776

How sweet the name of Jesus sounds
In a believer's ear!
It soothes his sorrows, heals his wounds
And drives away his fear.

It makes the wounded spirit whole
And calms the troubled breast
'Tis manna to the hungry soul
And to the weary, rest.

Dear name -- the rock on which I build
My shield and hiding place
My never-failing treasure
Filled with boundless store of grace!

Jesus, my shepherd, brother, friend
My prophet, priest and King
My Lord, my life, my way, my end
Accept the praise I bring!

Getting Through the Day - Sarah Young

Let Me help you get through this day.

There are many possible paths to travel between your getting up in the morning and your lying down at night.

Stay alert to the  many choices along the way, being continually aware of My Presence.

You will get through this day one way or the other.

One way is to moan and groan, stumbling along with shuffling feet.

This will get you to the end of the day eventually, but there is a better way.

You can choose to walk with Me along the path of Peace, leaning on Me as much as you need.

There will still be difficulties along the way, but you can face them confidently in My strength.

Thank Me for each problem you encounter, and watch to see how I transform trials into blessings.

                     -- From Jesus Calling, by Sarah Young

...to guide our feet into the path of peace.

     Luke 1:79

What is impossible? - Sarah Young

It is impossible to praise or thank Me too much.

As it is written: I inhabit the praises of My people.

Sometimes your adoration is a spontaneous overflow of Joy, in response to radiant beauty or rich blessings.

At other times your praise is more disciplined and measured --- an act of your will.

I dwell equally in both types of praise.

Thankfulness, also, is a royal road to draw near Me.

A thankful heart has plenty of room for Me.

When you thank Me for the many pleasures I provide, you affirm that I am God, from whom all blessings flow.

When adversity strikes and you thank Me anyway, your trust in My sovereignty is a show-piece in invisible realms.

Fill up the spare moments of your life with praise and thanksgiving.

This joyous discipline will help you live in the intimacy of My Presence.

Praise the LORD, O my soul,

I will praise the LORD all my life;

I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.

Psalm 146:1-2

Give thanks in all circumstances,

For this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

1 Thessalonians 5:18