Father in Heaven We Thank Thee

For flowers that bloom about our feet,
Father, we thank Thee.
For tender grass so fresh, so sweet,
Father, we thank Thee.

For the song of bird and hum of bee,
For all things fair we hear or see,
Father in heaven, we thank Thee.

For blue of stream and blue of sky,
Father, we thank Thee.

For pleasant shade of branches high,
Father, we thank Thee.
For fragrant air and cooling breeze,
For beauty of the blooming trees,
Father in heaven, we thank Thee.

For this new morning with its light,
Father, we thank Thee.
For rest and shelter of the night,
Father, we thank Thee

For health and food, for love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends,
Father in heaven, we thank Thee.

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

No Reserve, Fearing Nothing...

Let us give ourselves to God without any reserve, and let us fear nothing. He will love us, and we shall love Him. His love, increasing every day, will take the place of everything else to us. He will fill our whole hearts; He will deprive us only of those things that make us unhappy. He will cause us to do in general, what we have been doing already, but which we have done in an unsatisfactory manner; whereas, hereafter, we shall do them well, because they will be done for His sake. Even the smallest actions of a simple and common life will be turned to consolation and recompense. We shall meet the approach of death in peace; it will be changed for us into the beginning of the immortal life.

~ Francois De La Mothe Fénelon

Something New...

Last night I asked my Heavenly Father
About the way I should go.
I said, Lord I can't see Your path before me,
All I can see is rocky road.
So take me through.
And He spoke to me these
Words of simple truth.

And I will lead the blind
By the way they do not know
In paths they do not know I will guide them.
I will make darkness into light before them
And rugged places into plains.

These are the things I will do, I will do, I will do
And I will not leave them undone.
These are the things I will do, I will do, I will do
And I will not leave them undone.

Well I'm only one, of countless thousands
Who have walked upon pilgrim's way.
And whenever I thirst,
I'll seek my Lord first
And listen to what He will say.

Lord, let me hear You, and He spoke to me
These words of simple truth,
Behold I will do something new,
Now it will spring forth,
And you will not be aware of it.
I will even make a roadway in the wilderness,
And rivers in the desert.

These are the things I will do, I will do, I will do
And I will not leave them undone.
These are the things I will do, I will do, I will do
And I will not leave them undone.

"Strengthen, O God! that which thou hast wrought for us."

Your God has commanded your strength [your might in His service and impenetrable hardness to temptation]; O God, display Your might and strengthen what You have wrought for us!

 ~ Psalm 68:28 (AMP)

 In the former part of the verse the psalmist speaks to Israel: "Thy God has commanded thy strength; that is, whatever is done for thee, or whatever strength thou hast to help thyself, it comes from God, his power and grace, and the word which he has commanded; thou hast no reason to fear while thou hast strength of God’s commanding, and no reason to boast while thou hast no strength but what is of his commanding.’’ In the latter part he speaks to God, encouraged by his experiences: "Strengthen, O God! that which thou hast wrought for us. Lord, confirm what thou hast commanded, perform what thou hast promised, and bring to a happy end that good work which thou hast so gloriously begun.’’ What God has wrought he will strengthen; where he has given true grace he will give more grace. Some make this whole verse to be a believer’s address to the Messiah, whom David calls God, as he had done, Ps. 45:6, Ps. 45:8 . "Thy God’’ (God the Father) "has commanded thy strength, has made thee strong for himself, as the man of his right hand (Ps. 80:17 ), has treasured up strength in thee for us; therefore we pray that thou, O God the Son! wilt strengthen what thou hast wrought for us, wilt accomplish thy undertaking for us by finishing thy good work in us.’

~ Matthew Henry

Oh! take your wavering faith and drooping graces to him who can revive and replenish them, and earnestly pray, "Strengthen, O God, that which thou hast wrought for us."

~ Charles Spurgeon

"Underneath are the everlasting arms." Deuteronomy 33:27

God--the eternal God--is himself our support at all times, and especially when we are sinking in deep trouble. There are seasons when the Christian sinks very low in humiliation. Under a deep sense of his great sinfulness, he is humbled before God till he scarcely knows how to pray, because he appears, in his own sight, so worthless. Well, child of God, remember that when thou art at thy worst and lowest, yet "underneath" thee "are everlasting arms." Sin may drag thee ever so low, but Christ's great atonement is still under all. You may have descended into the deeps, but you cannot have fallen so low as "the uttermost;" and to the uttermost he saves. Again, the Christian sometimes sinks very deeply in sore trial from without. Every earthly prop is cut away. What then? Still underneath him are "the everlasting arms." He cannot fall so deep in distress and affliction but what the covenant grace of an ever-faithful God will still encircle him. The Christian may be sinking under trouble from within through fierce conflict, but even then he cannot be brought so low as to be beyond the reach of the "everlasting arms"--they are underneath him; and, while thus sustained, all Satan's efforts to harm him avail nothing.

This assurance of support is a comfort to any weary but earnest worker in the service of God. It implies a promise of strength for each day, grace for each need, and power for each duty. And, further, when death comes, the promise shall still hold good. When we stand in the midst of Jordan, we shall be able to say with David, "I will fear no evil, for thou art with me." We shall descend into the grave, but we shall go no lower, for the eternal arms prevent our further fall. All through life, and at its close, we shall be upheld by the "everlasting arms"--arms that neither flag nor lose their strength, for "the everlasting God fainteth not, neither is weary.

~ Charles Spurgeon

Living Well

Nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty… I have never in my life envied a human being who led an easy life. I have envied a great many people who led difficult lives and led them well.
-Theodore Roosevelt