“Let the people renew their strength.”—Isaiah 41:1.
LL things on earth need to be renewed. No created thing continueth by itself. “Thou renewest the face of the earth,” was the Psalmist’s utterance. Even the trees, which wear not themselves with care, nor shorten their lives with labour, must drink of the rain of heaven and suck from the hidden treasures of the soil. The cedars of Lebanon, which God has planted, only live because day by day they are full of sap fresh drawn from the earth.Neither can man’s life be sustained without renewal from God. As it is necessary to repair the waste of the body by the frequent meal, so we must repair the waste of the soul by feeding upon the Book of God, or by listening to the preached Word, or by the soul-fattening table of the ordinances.
How depressed are our graces when means are neglected! What poor starvelings some saints are who live without the diligent use of the Word of God and secret prayer! If our piety can live without God it is not of divine creating; it is but a dream; for if God had begotten it, it would wait upon Him as the flowers wait upon the dew. Without constant restoration we are not ready for the perpetual assaults of hell, or the stern afflictions of heaven, or even for the strifes within. When the whirlwind shall be loosed, woe to the tree that hath not sucked up fresh sap, and grasped the rock with many intertwisted roots.When tempests arise, woe to the mariners that have not strengthened their mast, nor cast their anchor, nor sought the haven.
If we suffer the good to grow weaker, the evil will surely gather strength and struggle desperately for the mastery over us; and so, mayhap, a painful desolation, and a lamentable disgrace may follow. Let us draw near to the footstool of divine mercy in humble entreaty, and we shall realize the fulfillment of the promise, “They that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength.”
Early in the morning, before the sun is ablaze give a shout of pure joy a song of heartfelt praise.
Make a sweet melody, and show your gratitude sing out your praises with a joyful attitude.
Early in the morning, before the sun begins to rise remember His loving-kindness under the darken skies.
Clap your hands together, lift your arms up in praise give your day to the Lord and thank Him for His ways.
While the dew is still set, on the morning lawn while the house is dark before there is a new dawn.
Show your thankfulness, to the Lord up above lift up your heart-song and praise Him for His love.
When your day is finally over, and the sun dims its blazing light thank God for His faithfulness all though the starry night!
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Psalm 92:1-2 King James Version
"It is good to give thanks to the Lord, and to sing praises to Your name, O Most High; To declare Your lovingkindness in the morning, and Your faithfulness every night."
Copyright 2015 Deborah Ann Belka
“Continue in prayer.”—Colossians 4:2.
T is interesting to remark how large a portion of Sacred Writ is occupied with the subject of prayer, either in furnishing examples, enforcing precepts, or pronouncing promises. We scarcely open the Bible before we read, “Then began men to call upon the name of the Lord;” and just as we are about to close the volume, the “Amen” of an earnest supplication meets our ear. Instances are plentiful. Here we find a wrestling Jacob—there a Daniel who prayed three times a day—and a David who with all his heart called upon his God. On the mountain we see Elias; in the dungeon Paul and Silas. We have multitudes of commands, and myriads of promises. What does this teach us, but the sacred importance and necessity of prayer? We may be certain that whatever God has made prominent in His Word, He intended to be conspicuous in our lives.
If He has said much about prayer, it is because He knows we have much need of it. So deep are our necessities, that until we are in heaven we must not cease to pray. Dost thou want nothing? Then, I fear thou dost not know thy poverty. Hast thou no mercy to ask of God? Then, may the Lord’s mercy show thee thy misery! A prayerless soul is a Christless soul. Prayer is the lisping of the believing infant, the shout of the fighting believer, the requiem of the dying saint falling asleep in Jesus. It is the breath, the watchword, the comfort, the strength, the honour of a Christian. If thou be a child of God, thou wilt seek thy Father’s face, and live in thy Father’s love.
Pray that this year thou mayst be holy, humble, zealous, and patient; have closer communion with Christ, and enter oftener into the banqueting-house of His love. Pray that thou mayst be an example and a blessing unto others, and that thou mayst live more to the glory of thy Master. The motto for this year must be, “Continue in prayer.”
“We will be glad and rejoice in Thee.”—Song of Solomon 1:4.
E will be glad and rejoice in Thee. We will not open the gates of the year to the dolorous notes of the sackbut, but to the sweet strains of the harp of joy, and the high sounding cymbals of gladness. “O come, let us sing unto the Lord: let us make a joyful noise unto the rock of our salvation.” We, the called and faithful and chosen, we will drive away our griefs, and set up our banners of confidence in the name of God. Let others lament over their troubles, we who have the sweetening tree to cast into Marah’s bitter pool, with joy will magnify the Lord. Eternal Spirit, our effectual Comforter, we who are the temples in which Thou dwellest, will never cease from adoring and blessing the name of Jesus. We WILL, we are resolved about it, Jesus must have the crown of our heart’s delight; we will not dishonour our Bridegroom by mourning in His presence. We are ordained to be the minstrels of the skies, let us rehearse our everlasting anthem before we sing it in the halls of the New Jerusalem. We will BE GLAD AND REJOICE: two words with one sense, double joy, blessedness upon blessedness. Need there be any limit to our rejoicing in the Lord even now?
Do not men of grace find their Lord to be camphire and spikenard, calamus and cinnamon even now, and what better fragrance have they in heaven itself? We will be glad and rejoice IN THEE. That last word is the meat in the dish, the kernel of the nut, the soul of the text. What heavens are laid up in Jesus! What rivers of infinite bliss have their source, ay, and every drop of their fulness in Him! Since, O sweet Lord Jesus, Thou art the present portion of Thy people, favour us this year with such a sense of Thy preciousness, that from its first to its last day we may be glad and rejoice in Thee. Let January open with joy in the Lord, and December close with gladness in Jesus.
Lord, this year help me, to walk watchfully . . . let my every footstep be made cautiously.
Let me choose the path, of the least resistance from the foolish way let me keep my distance.
Let me make the most, of each day before me help me to take time to spend only with Thee.
Let me be ever watchful, of Satan’s wicked tricks so into His evil snares I’ll not fall or trip.
Lord, this year help me, to wait and to be still until I understand . . . what is Your perfect will!
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Ephesians 5:15-17
“See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.”
King James Version by Public Domain
Copyright 2014 Deborah Ann Belka
“They did eat of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year.”—Joshua 5:12.
SRAEL’S weary wanderings were all over, and the promised rest was attained. No more moving tents, fiery serpents, fierce Amalekites, and howling wildernesses: they came to the land which flowed with milk and honey, and they ate the old corn of the land. Perhaps this year, beloved Christian reader, this may be thy case or mine. Joyful is the prospect, and if faith be in active exercise, it will yield unalloyed delight. To be with Jesus in the rest which remaineth for the people of God, is a cheering hope indeed, and to expect this glory so soon is a double bliss. Unbelief shudders at the Jordan which still rolls between us and the goodly land, but let us rest assured that we have already experienced more ills than death at its worst can cause us. Let us banish every fearful thought, and rejoice with exceeding great joy, in the prospect that this year we shall begin to be “for ever with the Lord.”
A part of the host will this year tarry on earth, to do service for their Lord. If this should fall to our lot, there is no reason why the New Year’s text should not still be true. “We who have believed do enter into rest.” The Holy Spirit is the earnest of our inheritance; He gives us “glory begun below.” In heaven they are secure, and so are we preserve in Christ Jesus; there they triumph over their enemies, and we have victories too. Celestial spirits enjoy communion with their Lord, and this is not denied to us; they rest in His love, and we have perfect peace in Him: they hymn His praise, and it is our privilege to bless Him too. We will this year gather celestial fruits on earthly ground, where faith and hope have made the desert like the garden of the Lord. Man did eat angels’ food of old, and why not now? O for grace to feed on Jesus, and so to eat of the fruit of the land of Canaan this year!
“They did eat of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year.”—Joshua 5:12.
SRAEL’S weary wanderings were all over, and the promised rest was attained. No more moving tents, fiery serpents, fierce Amalekites, and howling wildernesses: they came to the land which flowed with milk and honey, and they ate the old corn of the land. Perhaps this year, beloved Christian reader, this may be thy case or mine. Joyful is the prospect, and if faith be in active exercise, it will yield unalloyed delight. To be with Jesus in the rest which remaineth for the people of God, is a cheering hope indeed, and to expect this glory so soon is a double bliss. Unbelief shudders at the Jordan which still rolls between us and the goodly land, but let us rest assured that we have already experienced more ills than death at its worst can cause us. Let us banish every fearful thought, and rejoice with exceeding great joy, in the prospect that this year we shall begin to be “for ever with the Lord.”
A part of the host will this year tarry on earth, to do service for their Lord. If this should fall to our lot, there is no reason why the New Year’s text should not still be true. “We who have believed do enter into rest.” The Holy Spirit is the earnest of our inheritance; He gives us “glory begun below.” In heaven they are secure, and so are we preserve in Christ Jesus; there they triumph over their enemies, and we have victories too. Celestial spirits enjoy communion with their Lord, and this is not denied to us; they rest in His love, and we have perfect peace in Him: they hymn His praise, and it is our privilege to bless Him too. We will this year gather celestial fruits on earthly ground, where faith and hope have made the desert like the garden of the Lord. Man did eat angels’ food of old, and why not now? O for grace to feed on Jesus, and so to eat of the fruit of the land of Canaan this year!
“Knowest thou not that it will be bitterness in the latter end?”—2 Samuel 2:26.
F, O my reader! thou art merely a professor, and not a possessor of the faith that is in Christ Jesus, the following lines are a true ketch of thine end.
You are a respectable attendant at a place of worship; you go because others go, not because your heart is right with God. This is your beginning. I will suppose that for the next twenty or thirty years you will be spared to go on as you do now, professing religion by an outward attendance upon the means of grace, but having no heart in the matter.
Tread softly, for I must show you the deathbed of such a one as yourself. Let us gaze upon him gently. A clammy sweat is on his brow, and he wakes up crying, “O God, it is hard to die. Did you send for my minister?” “Yes, he is coming.” The minister comes. “Sir, I fear that I am dying!” “Have you any hope?” “I cannot say that I have. I fear to stand before my God; oh! pray for me.” The prayer is offered for him with sincere earnestness, and the way of salvation is for the ten-thousandth time put before him, but before he has grasped the rope, I see him sink. I may put my finger upon those cold eyelids, for they will never see anything here again.
But where is the man, and where are the man’s true eyes? It is written, “In hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torment.” Ah! why did he not lift up his eyes before? Because he was so accustomed to hear the gospel that his soul slept under it. Alas! if you should lift up your eyes there, how bitter will be your wailings. Let the Saviour’s own words reveal the woe: “Father Abraham, send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame.” There is a frightful meaning in those words. May you never have to spell it out by the red light of Jehovah’s wrath!
“Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof.”—Ecclesiastes 7:8.
OOK at David’s Lord and Master; see His beginning. He was despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. Would you see the end? He sits at His Father’s right hand, expecting until His enemies be made his footstool. “As He is, so are we also in this world.”
You must bear the cross, or you shall never wear the crown; you must wade through the mire, or you shall never walk the golden pavement. Cheer up, then, poor Christian. “Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof.” See that creeping worm, how contemptible its appearance! It is the beginning of a thing. Mark that insect with gorgeous wings, playing in the sunbeams, sipping at the flower bells, full of happiness and life; that is the end thereof. That caterpillar is yourself, until you are wrapped up in the chrysalis of death; but when Christ shall appear you shall be like Him, for you shall see Him as He is.
Be content to be like Him, a worm and no man, that like Him you may be satisfied when you wake up in His likeness. That rough-looking diamond is put upon the wheel of the lapidary. He cuts it on all sides. It loses much—much that seemed costly to itself. The king is crowned; the diadem is put upon the monarch’s head with trumpet’s joyful sound. A glittering ray flashes from that coronet, and it beams from that very diamond which was just now so sorely vexed by the lapidary. You may venture to compare yourself to such a diamond, for you are one of God’s people; and this is the time of the cutting process.
Let faith and patience have their perfect work, for in the day when the crown shall be set upon the head of the King, Eternal, Immortal, Invisible, one ray of glory shall stream from you. “They shall be Mine,” saith the Lord, “in the day when I make up My jewels.” “Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof.”
This Christmas . . .
Let us be as the Wise Men, who came from afar let us each search for God right here, where we are.
He’ll lead us with His Word, His Spirit will show us the way just as the star led the Wise Men to baby Jesus, Christmas day.
Let’s give our hearts to Jesus, like Wise Men, offer up our praise as we worship and adore Him let our treasures, to Him be raised.
Let’s surrender to Him our life, give Jesus everything we hold our worldly sacrifices for Him are more precious than any gold.
Let’s bring to Him our prayers, our hopes, plans and dreams let the aroma of frankincense rise up to the King, who redeems.
Let’s give Him all our pain, heartache, grief and suffering let the fragrance of myrrh be our thankful offering.
Let us be as the Wise Men, who came from afar . . . let us give unto Jesus all we have ~ all we are!
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Matthew 2:10-11 King James Version
“When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense and myrrh.
Copyright 2013 Deborah Ann Belka
Jesus knows your pain, He understands your grief He knows that only His love can bring your heart relief.
He recognizes your sorrow, He sees the spiteful sting and the grace He has for you in your life, He wants to bring.
He's aware of your rejection, He hears others put you down and His favor and His mercy will be your victory crown.
He identifies with your hurt, the tenderness of your ache and He will bring you comfort that no man could ever break.
For He too ~ was rejected, His life others gladly discarded and He knows the agony inflected when your cry is disregarded.
Jesus knows your pain, He wants to give you relief so He died to put an end to your sorrow and your grief.
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Isaiah 53:3 King James Version
"He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not."
Copyright 2012 Deborah Ann Belka
"Nana, why can't we see angels?" My grandson one day asked me. "Why if they are here with us . . . their wings we cannot see?"
I took him by the hand, and we walked my garden path and the innocence of his question gave my heart a happy, little laugh.
I knew I had to give an answer, that his tender heart could hold for God gave me my own angel so his soul ~ I could help to mold.
"Although you can't see angels, they're right here in front of you and no matter where you go they surround you in all you do.
They rush to your side, when you need a friend and helper and when you get into trouble they become for you, God's shelter.
They wrap their arms around you, when you go to bed each night they keep your heart close to Jesus until you see the morning light.
They are given to you by God, to keep you safe and warm and it is their duty and obligation to keep you from Satan's harm.
All you have to do is to believe, that angels are for real . . . and if you always trust in God in your heart, their wings you will feel."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Psalm 91:11 King James Version
" For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways."
Copyright 2012 Deborah Ann Belka
“God is love,
Jesus is His forgiveness
The Holy Spirit is His witness.”
deborah ann
Abba ~ my Father, has adopted me . . . into His royal family so I could be . . .
An heir to salvation, a daughter of light a child that brings to Him great delight.
I'm no longer an orphan, I'm no longer a stray I've inherited a room in His mansion I'll stay.
Abba ~ my Father, has adopted me . . . into His royal family, so I can be free . . .
Free from the guilt, of my wandering ways free from the darkness that once filled my days.
The adoption became final, that day on the Cross when Jesus died for me and all those who are lost.
Abba ~ my Father, has adopted me . . . into His royal family so I might see . . .
See His glory, in the middle of my pain see His grace fall like sweet drops of rain.
The inheritance is mine, I'm claiming my right and now I have privilege to His power and might.
Abba ~ my Father, has adopted me . . . into His royal family, I willingly flee . . .
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Psalm 37:18 King James Version
"The Lord knoweth the days of the upright: and their inheritance shall be for ever.
Copyright 2012 Deborah Ann Belka
There are many reasons to close your Facebook account here is a link to a video as to why
Loved completely, that's what we are no matter how near no matter how far.
Comforted forever, that's what we hold no matter young no matter how old.
Blessed assurance, that's what we own no matter how new no matter how grown.
Forgiven eternally, that's what we hope in no matter our works, no matter our sin.
Heaven bound, that's where we'll be no matter how burdened, no matter how free!
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Philippians 3:20-21
"For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ:"
Copyright 2012 Deborah Ann Belka
Give me faith unwavering, so I may stand steadfast give me strength astounding so rough seas I may outlast.
Give me faith unshakable, so I may walk faithfully give me hope unfaltering so I may tread gracefully.
Give me faith undoubting, so I may be committed give me power unflinching so my sins may be acquitted.
Give me faith unending, so I may see eternity give me grace eternal so I may die in certainty.
Give me faith everlasting, give me faith, give me power give me faith everlasting give me faith ~ until my final hour!
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Romans 1:17
"For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "The just shall live by faith."
Kings James Bible By Public Domain
Copyright 2012 Deborah Ann Belka
For God so loves the world,
that He gave to all His only Son
who came to mend and heal
the heart and soul of everyone.
It doesn't matter your race,
or the color of your skin
Jesus just wants to forgive you
if you'd confess to Him your sin.
You may be rich and happy,
you may be poor and weak
but to Jesus we're all bankrupt
if His truth we do not seek.
It doesn't matter your fortune,
or your station in this life
for He knows without His love
we'll live with everlasting strife.
You may be blind or deaf,
but that won't stand in His way
for He came to teach and show
how sin causes death and decay.
It doesn't matter your position,
all are equal in His eyes
but He knows without His truth
we won't see through Satan's lies.
You may be a thief or a murderer,
an idolaters or an oppressor
but that won't stop His promise
to set free every transgressor.
It doesn't matter your offense,
to Him ~ all sin is the same
what matters most to Jesus
is that we believe in His name.
For God so loves the world,
that He gave to all His only Son
who came to forgive and breathe
new life into each and everyone!
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John 3:16
King James Version
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his
only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth
in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
Copyright 2012
Deborah Ann Belka