'Tis so Sweet...

We are currently attending a church that is in the center of Hot Springs Village (the largest gated retirement community in the country). We are not retired. But it has been refreshing to be in a church that does things totally different than what is hip and cool. They sing mostly hymns! And they have an organ (with a band).

As we sing these hymns again, I am really trying hard to concentrate on the words. They are so very powerful. Take the classic, "'Tis so Sweet"

'Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus
Just to take Him at His Word
Just to rest upon His Promise
Just to know 'thus saith the Lord.'

Jesus, Jesus How I trust Him!
How I've proved Him over and over
Jesus, Jesus precious Jesus
O for Grace to Trust Him more.

I think we have forgotten how to take Jesus at His Word, to rest on His promises, to know this is what God says. There is no foundatin more firm than to trust God's Word.

Photo from www.bbc.co.uk/

A new {IN}-sight on debt

I have been extremely challenged by Hudson Taylor's insert about debt in his autobiography:

"To me it seemed that the teaching of God's Word was unmistakably clear: 'Owe no man anything.' To borrow money implied, to my mind, a contradiction of Scripture-a confession that God had withheld some good thing, and a determination to get for ourselves what He had not given.... If the Word taught me anything, it taught me to have no connection with debt. I could not think that God was poor, that He was short of resources, or unwilling to supply any want of whatever work was really His. It seemed to me that if there were any lack of funds to carry on work, then to that degree, in that special development, or at that time, it could not be the work of God."

I had never thought of debt in this light. If the resources were not there for me to get IT, then quite surely IT was not something God had for me to get (at that time). I think of the many churches and ministires that are in tremendous debt for their new buildings or new facilities. Could it be that God did not intend for them to have that?

A prayer for our kids...for every month!

This comes from a post at Heart Pondering

1. That they will know Christ early in life. (Psalm 63:1; 2 Timothy 3:15)

2. That they will hate sin. (Psalm 97:10)

3. That they will be caught when guilty. (Psalm 119:71)

4. That they will be protected from the evil one in each area of their lives: spiritual, emotional, physical. (John 17:15)

5. That they have a responsible attitude in all their personal relationships. (Daniel 6:3)

6. That they will respect those in authority over them. (Romans 13:1)

7. That they will desire the right kind of friends and be protected from the wrong friends. (Proverbs 1:10-11)

8. That they will be kept from the wrong mate and saved for the right one. (2 Corinthians 6:14-17)

9. That they, as well as those they marry, will be kept pure. (1 Corinthians 6:18-20)

10. That they will learn to totally submit to God and actively resist Satan in all circumstances. (James 4:7)

11. That they will be single-hearted, willing to be sold out to Jesus Christ.
(Romans 12:1-2)

12. That they will be hedged in so they cannot find their way to wrong people or wrong places and that the wrong people cannot find their way to them. (Hosea 2:6)”

Take one each month and saturate your kids in prayer!