Psalm 92 ~ they flourish in the courts of our God +

Psalm 92

1 It is good to give thanks to the Lord,
to sing praises to your name, O Most High;
2 to declare your steadfast love in the morning,
and your faithfulness by night,
3 to the music of the lute and the harp,
to the melody of the lyre.

4 For you, O Lord, have made me glad by your work;
at the works of your hands I sing for joy.

5 How great are your works, O Lord!
Your thoughts are very deep!
6 The stupid man cannot know;
the fool cannot understand this:
7 that though the wicked sprout like grass
and all evildoers flourish,
they are doomed to destruction forever;
8 but you, O Lord, are on high forever.
9 For behold, your enemies, O Lord,
for behold, your enemies shall perish;
all evildoers shall be scattered.

10 But you have exalted my horn like that of the wild ox;
you have poured over mea fresh oil.
11 My eyes have seen the downfall of my enemies;
my ears have heard the doom of my evil assailants.

12 The righteous flourish like the palm tree
and grow like a cedar in Lebanon.

13 They are planted in the house of the Lord;
they flourish in the courts of our God.

14 They still bear fruit in old age;
they are ever full of sap and green,

15 to declare that the Lord is upright;


he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.

If you drive past the summer blue of the Mediterranean, up past the majestic Palm trees, over a bridge and begin to climb the hills, you will find a street called
Chien Forestier - loosely translated Dogwood Trees Plural. Forest.

I knew this well! I was small and my parents were kindly giants. One white car going up the hills, highways and narrow parts of Old Nice. I could tell you the one and only day we met the movie star David Niven. Or the two times I met Princess Grace.

The many times we saw the Guard in front of The Palace.  The evening I spent with Princess Caroline and Prince Albert, some, when Princess Grace was pregnant with Stephanie. Because an American girl from Oregon, who lived with us, Odette Gilbert worked at the Palace in Monaco. Our Priest's name was Frank Griswold. I'll add, Rex Harrison lived within miles, but I never laid eyes on him. My father told my mother, on two occasions, to be polite and not stare at Rex Harrison eating dinner.

And that is very exciting, yet, the Joy and warmth and heart of the memories from Nice, France would be this these early days:

How could you help but not see the Majesty of God in the sun showing the blazing color?

Isaiah 40:26

Lift up your eyes on high and see: who created these? He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name; by the greatness of his might and because he is strong in power, not one of them is missing.

Ephesians 3:15
from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named

1 Thessalonians 4
12 Then you will behave properly toward outsiders, without being dependent on anyone. 13 Brothers, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you will not grieve like the rest, who are without hope. 14 For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, we also believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in Him.




God's Glory. The sunsets were usually dramatic and as the light became twilight the lights glowed with gold. The water appeared to be a deep purple. The astonishing color.

This event was steadfast, even in winter. And God saw that this is Good. Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow.

Let's bring the passage alive Today, for us.

The wild winds of Life eventually howl. This is not our eternal Home.

Just as we all grew up with: Here is the Church, here is the Steeple. Open the Doors. Here are the People!

Father God in His Holy Spirit in all of the Scripture used the Palm Tree. Flourish like the Palm Tree.

This is a Palm Tree Analogy of God. Jesus several times in His Word says "Jesus healed them all." A palm tree has a very compact root ball, like a human heart is compact.  And when this tree is uprooted by intense wind, the tree is pulled up, up, up and planted again in the soil to flourish - Again.

God is Amazingly, Completely Interesting. And Wise. In All His Glory and in His Infinitesimal Wisdom of Love.

He tells us of His faith in us. In our Joy in Jesus Christ. And when circumstance and life howl.

The Palms that bend with Mercy Survive. God tells us He values Mercy over Sacrifice, always.

John 14

1“Do not let your hearts be troubled.
You believe in God ; believe also in me. 2 My Father’s house has many rooms;
if that were not so, would I have told you that
I am going there to prepare a place for you

Luke 23:43
And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

1 John 4:10
This is love:
not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

4th Century Ossicare David Thessaloniki, Greece
Ancient of Days

 

Abba, Lord Father God, 
Lover and Creator of all people and things,

Of old, You laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands.

May You bless us to increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do for You.

Establish our hearts blameless in Holiness before You, God and Father, today and at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His Saints.

In Jesus, He who calls us is faithful; He will surely do it.

As we lift up our dearest hope to Jesus. For our loved ones. Cares, concerns. Worries of the news. Old times, times to come. This Nation. Your People.

May You, Abba, Bless us to grow in the grace and knowledge of You, The Lord God Almighty and Savior Jesus Christ.

Now we see but a dim reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face.

Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love; but the greatest of these is Love.

To Jesus,
Son of God, bringing His Father a new Heaven and a new earth, 
be the glory both now 
and to the day of eternity. Amen.

♔ Lord Jesus Saves!  †

Nehemiah 13:1-22 ~ Remember me, O my God, concerning this, and do not wipe out my good deeds that I have done for the house of my God and for his service.

Nehemiah 13:1-22

On that day they read from the Book of Moses in the hearing of the people. And in it was found written that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever enter the assembly of God, 2 for they did not meet the people of Israel with bread and water, but hired Balaam against them to curse them—yet our God turned the curse into a blessing. 3 As soon as the people heard the law, they separated from Israel all those of foreign descent.

4 Now before this, Eliashib the priest, who was appointed over the chambers of the house of our God, and who was related to Tobiah, 5 prepared for Tobiah a large chamber where they had previously put the grain offering, the frankincense, the vessels, and the tithes of grain, wine, and oil, which were given by commandment to the Levites, singers, and gatekeepers, and the contributions for the priests. 6 While this was taking place, I was not in Jerusalem, for in the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon I went to the king. And after some time I asked leave of the king 7 and came to Jerusalem, and I then discovered the evil that Eliashib had done for Tobiah, preparing for him a chamber in the courts of the house of God. 8 And I was very angry, and I threw all the household furniture of Tobiah out of the chamber. 9 Then I gave orders, and they cleansed the chambers, and I brought back there the vessels of the house of God, with the grain offering and the frankincense.

10 I also found out that the portions of the Levites had not been given to them, so that the Levites and the singers, who did the work, had fled each to his field. 11 So I confronted the officials and said, “Why is the house of God forsaken?” And I gathered them together and set them in their stations. 12 Then all Judah brought the tithe of the grain, wine, and oil into the storehouses. 13 And I appointed as treasurers over the storehouses Shelemiah the priest, Zadok the scribe, and Pedaiah of the Levites, and as their assistant Hanan the son of Zaccur, son of Mattaniah, for they were considered reliable, and their duty was to distribute to their brothers. 14 Remember me, O my God, concerning this, and do not wipe out my good deeds that I have done for the house of my God and for his service.

15 In those days I saw in Judah people treading winepresses on the Sabbath, and bringing in heaps of grain and loading them on donkeys, and also wine, grapes, figs, and all kinds of loads, which they brought into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. And I warned them on the day when they sold food. 16 Tyrians also, who lived in the city, brought in fish and all kinds of goods and sold them on the Sabbath to the people of Judah, in Jerusalem itself! 

17 Then I confronted the nobles of Judah and said to them, “What is this evil thing that you are doing, profaning the Sabbath day? 18 Did not your fathers act in this way, and did not our God bring all this disaster on us and on this city? Now you are bringing more wrath on Israel by profaning the Sabbath.”

19 As soon as it began to grow dark at the gates of Jerusalem before the Sabbath, I commanded that the doors should be shut and gave orders that they should not be opened until after the Sabbath. 

And I stationed some of my servants at the gates, that no load might be brought in on the Sabbath day. 20 Then the merchants and sellers of all kinds of wares lodged outside Jerusalem once or twice. 21 But I warned them and said to them, “Why do you lodge outside the wall? If you do so again, I will lay hands on you.” 

From that time on they did not come on the Sabbath. 

22 Then I commanded the Levites that they should purify themselves and come and guard the gates, to keep the Sabbath day holy. Remember this also in my favor, O my God, and spare me according to the greatness of your steadfast love.

 

SOMETHING FROM THE OLD TESTAMENT

Jesus knew quite clearly as the exiled former slaves returned to Jerusalem, something remained.

Solomon's Portico.

Whenever Jesus did visit the Temple, He taught from "Solomon's" Portico.

Today we still have what remains.

This is marvelous. We have pillars of the First Temple which stood in the Second Temple. These pillars were there as Jesus walked among the believers in His Father's House.

Psalm 116
19 in the courts of the house of the Lord,
in your midst, O Jerusalem.
Praise the Lord!



our God turned the curse into a blessing

 

And From  THE NEW TESTAMENT

So Jesus told us we are the new Temple of God.

Galatians 5
The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.






 


The Holy Spirit marches through History and in the fact that mankind requires Jesus for Salvation and holds within themselves the ability to hold the Light of God in all of mankind, we see situations repeat.


The slaves were called "exiles" and exalted as a studied people by Emperor Nebuchadnezzar. In reality, they were slaves who were well treated and allowed to own homes like Ezekiel. To assemble and have freedom to worship and were totally... slaves.

Returning to the destroyed Jerusalem, 70 years predicted by Jeremiah and fulfilled, the newly reborn nation wobbled. And did things the wrong way. Not understanding where to go with their freedoms.

MAKING A 200 Year Old Repeat for Our Passage TODAY

What era could we compare this too and have some peace about today?

The Nation was so new, currency was not established and what was traded instead of actual monetary coin and paper? Small Farmers made Whiskey. And traded.

President Washington was called on to physically lead troops in Pennsylvania against people unsure how a nation should act. A new America. Riots about rights, liberty, representation, and taxes. What they had produced for many years was suddenly taxed by the New Nation to provide for the Common Defense. The American Revolution had cost the Federal Government $54 Million Dollars in Debt.

President Washington like Nehemiah - rushed in with a solution sure to upset everyone to make the place run smoothly.

Why did that ol' Bad George suggest this harm to the farmers?

Washington’s farm manager, James Anderson, suggested building a whiskey distillery adjacent to the mill. When it was completed in 1797, the distillery was the largest in America.

By 1799 it had become one of Washington’s most successful enterprises, producing 11,000 gallons of whiskey per year. A variety of whiskeys were produced, with brandy and vinegar. The most common whiskey recipe used 60% rye, 35% corn, and 5% malted barley. Some whiskey was flavored with cinnamon, wheat, apple, peach and persimmon brandies were also made.


Proving for all of us - the quick fix - the un-involvement as a solution for peace - does not work.

Promoting a situation Jesus told us of Directly as a Study of Mankind.

Matthew 5:9
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

But before you get to being the peace called Children of God - you might just travel down a little of this road realizing Nehemiah and George Washington faced real death and real weapons as a result of peace making.


Matthew 5:9
7 “Judge not, that you be not judged. 2 For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. 3 Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?

Nicey rarely works. Only sinners do the work of God. Mistakes and miscommunication and anger happen. Jesus said and considers His Ministry with His Father - Real work.

Matthew 11:12
From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force.

Our freedoms, women's suffrage, This Nation, the reborn Nation of Israel - all were FOUGHT for.

Pick up your cross - wear a cross and - be willing to speak and be counted for Jesus the Lord.

1 Peter 3:15-16
15 but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, 
always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason 
for the hope that is in you; 
yet do it with gentleness and respect, 
16 having a good conscience




Father God,

Blessed be the Name of Jesus and the people who know and Believe in Your Son.

We are in the Holy Spirit and we for believe and act - God gave us a Spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.

We are taught that power - insults and offends. Makes Strength. This is incorrect. Sarcasm tears flesh. And yet, what mends hearts and encourages the Holy Spirit in us is not power and control is something far better. The Power of Love and Self- Control that increases Mercy and Grace. The Diligence of being steadfast in Jesus.

Let us find what is good in today. Look for the good.

Let us see the diligent road of Faith, increasing our strength and trust in Father God.

And then in this we shall find our framework God gives us to have Love, Hope, Faith, Joy, Encouragement, Peace, Dignity, Self-Esteem pleasing to God allowing Him to draw us to Your Holy Throne.

At the very Throne of God, we will find His Love and Mercy with His Grace. And here with joy we can rest our concerns, for the ones we Love and pray for. For our Nation again to find Joy in God and His Blessings. For our Communities and Churches to feel comfortable and unworried in themselves. And recall the joy of the decades to centuries we have been nourished in Jesus Christ. And be pleased for the people all over the world praying with us for our needs in Jesus Christ. 

Help us that our speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that we may know how to answer everyone.

We shall see Faithfulness springs up from the ground,
and righteousness looks down from the sky.

Yes, Abba will give what is good,
and our land will yield its increase.

Righteousness will go before Jesus
and His footsteps will make a way.

The Highest Name of Jesus be Praised. Amen.

♔ Lord Jesus Saves!  †

Psalm 91 ~ The Most High, who is my refuge

Psalm 91

1 He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
2 I will saya to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust.”

3 For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler
and from the deadly pestilence.
4 He will cover you with his pinions,
and under his wings you will find refuge;
his faithfulness is a shield and buckler.
5 You will not fear the terror of the night,
nor the arrow that flies by day,
6 nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness,
nor the destruction that wastes at noonday.

7 A thousand may fall at your side,
ten thousand at your right hand,
but it will not come near you.
8 You will only look with your eyes
and see the recompense of the wicked.

9 Because you have made the Lord your dwelling place—
the Most High, who is my refuge—
10 no evil shall be allowed to befall you,
no plague come near your tent.

11 For he will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways.
12 On their hands they will bear you up,
lest you strike your foot against a stone.
13 You will tread on the lion and the adder;
the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot.

14 “Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him;
I will protect him, because he knows my name.
15 When he calls to me, I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble;
I will rescue him and honor him.
16 With long life I will satisfy him
and show him my salvation.””



Romans 12:2
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will.


Romans 12:18
If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.


If being popular and having a hearth of a soul to invite Jesus in, to live in harmony, worry free and peace - my grandmother Anita would not have lived to be old. She believed in Loving the Lord God with alllll your heart and soul and loving. And speaking your mind. Anita was the worriest of mighty prayer warriors. Once she was at the State Fair of Texas and a man was having trouble getting his horse down the planks, Anita said, "Oh here." She was in her sixties or fifties and she took off her sweater wrapped it around the horses face and spoke cheerfully and in an authoritative tone, the horse was led by bridle down the plank the horse had been afraid of.

Anita fed 20 to 40 people at lunch during the Great Depression from her 2 bedroom frame home where she lived (they added on a bedroom for 3) from 1917 to 1992. I can't report any of the people she fed for the duration came back to honor her. Anita had a Bible Study at Kessler Park United Methodist Church for decades and the number that attended was in the 40s. I can't report that into her 90s these people had lived as long as she had. Anita's circle of friends really numbered about 5 people and 4 were related to her.

When I had a problem, I'd call my grandmother. I knew her prayers were effective and direct to the Throne of God  the Almighty where she approached with confidence.

The night Grandmother Anita died, Dallas had an electrical storm that made the Dallas Morning News. It centered over Methodist Hospital and Downtown. Where Anita was Passing to Jesus Christ.

The storm did not have a break, it jumped from cloud to cloud. There wasn't any rain. We were not in a drought. The lightning was beautiful, well defined, and horizontal. Never did this storm make a noise, never did it stop. Never did the lightning go vertical to ground. The clouds seem to light up like Christmas rotating lights. The Dallas Morning News Headline said, " No Lightning Storm on Records Like This Unusual Storm." 1992.




The Lightning began as sun was setting and continued until Anita was just about gone. I told my mother, as we stood with Anita, and saw the storm from her Hospital Window, high off the ground, "Father God is giving Grandmother Anita a State Funeral send off." I told Grandmother this, but she was breathing now peacefully, which would cease easily in a few minutes.


Grandmother had lived a full 94 years. Riding a covered wagon with her many siblings to visit her grandmother. She had lived when traveling from Dallas to 80 miles north of New Orleans - Richardson, Louisiana - took 3 days to find a part in a river that was easy to take the car across. Many, many tires would blow and you carried tires in the trunk. Sandwiches were carried in a cardboard shoe box wrapped in wax paper.

She has spent a year in her life in a round metal contraption, in a hospital, called an iron lung to recover from phenomena at age 40. Her father had died at age 40 from not having antibiotics. Grandmother also lived in her 40s during the era on no antibiotics, but the iron lung kept her alive for a year. I had pneumonia in my 40s, threw out my back for 5 years with the coughing, and took Tamiflu and recovered.  Grandmother never passed a TB test, but never had TB, her lungs were always that scarred. The next 18 months saw the invention of antibiotics. Her husband, Ray, died while she was in the crisis and she was not told for that year. 

Her wedding rings were worn for the next 52 years as a widow. Grandmother Anita told us of seeing Ray in Heaven and she spoke of these occasions with great Joy. Her details never varied.  I dreamed of Grandmother visiting me in 2013. She told me each day just simply follow the Lord and rely on His ways and have peace. She nodded with assurance and said with Jesus, this will end well.





Now how does this tie into Scriptures.


7 A thousand may fall at your side,
ten thousand at your right hand,
but it will not come near you.

Anita might have been such a worrier, and she was, that she could have died of anxiety. Almost any week.

She certainly saw as many troubles as any human being had ever seen. One family member told me Anita was cursed. I actually laughed. And was asked why in the world That was funny. I said Anita saw herself as BLESSED and that was Grandmother Anita's Life. Gratitude filled her heart and praise could come out with such fortitude.

She is missed. Anita would be 118 years old in Heaven. 

Her son was prayed for diligently. And he came to know the Lord in his 70s. Anita was fruitful on earth, and probably danced in Heaven like the speakeasy she'd rather we didn't speak of as the Prohibition Flapper she was. She was still doing the Charleston in her late 80s. And playing the ukulele.


(She said she and Ray went once a month. They liked the lavish one in the First Republic Bank in Downtown Dallas, which was a Speakeasy after hours. And they looked blissfully happy in the grand old black and white photos. I asked her how the police didn't see the revelers in the beautifully set up tables through the glass doors. She thought a minute and laughed. "Lord knows.")

Ephesians 3

in the heavenly realms, 11 according to his eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. 12 In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence. 13 I ask you, therefore, not to be discouraged because of my sufferings for you, which are your glory.


14 For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15
from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name.

16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever!


Father God,

We learn about life around us stretching to see the good. Grandmother Anita is one of the Living Parables of my life. Inspiring me.

I give Anita sized Thanks for my arm being benign. Whoooop!

I give Anita Grandmother Sized Profound Thanks to Father God,  for her daughter, my mother, being helped with recovery from her UTI that is not a stroke. Giving thanks for the 3 cousins, her amazing boy friend, Jack, and my sister-in-law Mary Jane. Their help allowed my surgery to go through.

Thanks Father God for this generation where you get more than a bullet to bite on.
Clean health is a blessing, blessing, blessing of Father God.

Father, forgive me for doing a meme of political satire. I realized as I finished that wit, I'd just written a post on being the Person you'd want to vote for and being Upward with words.

Blessings abound to go home with two people I love after surgery and have the 3rd bring dinner.

The wonder of how painful a 2 inch incision with medication is on an arm, with the realization of Jesus whipped by Pilate.

The Blessing of thinking Peter was carried by Jesus on the very water. And the custom of the day, to kiss upon the cheek. I wonder if Peter was carried as a broken leg buddy, a baby or a fireman. But I would bet earnest money that kiss on the cheek happened for the rescue.

I am profoundly grateful for my rescue and Thank Father God for being covered with the name of Jesus.

We lift up those we love to know and Delight in Jesus' Love. We lift up all our cares and are lifted. We lift up this Nation and Know the Might and Power of God. We lift up our communities and the Church.

Settling ourselves in the hands that pulled Peter way up and going far.

Jesus the Lord! Amen.

♔ Lord Jesus Saves!  †

Luke 1:38 ~ Lord; let it be to me according to your word

Luke 1:38

38 And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.


What is to like about doing the Lord's Will.

1. Mary had support. She had seen and heard of Zechariah. Father God prepared her.

2. In being prepared, Mary had a pleasing heart and pleasing words for God's Plan.

3. Mary was brave. She went apparently unaccompanied 70 miles to the home of Elizabeth and Zechariah.

4. God granted her a place of rest, as events began to be determined.

5. God softened the heart of Joseph. Mary, again, was teamed in ministry.

6. Mary was put with Joseph, who knew He works for The Lord God and did difficult life decisions.

7. The fruit of Mary's life, the congruent family of Mary and Joseph in their lives and community tells us Jesus was growing in wisdom through these years.




Hebrews 4:16
Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.




God is our Father. We can rest on Father God.


Father God, I have had the worst day. My mother is suddenly ill. My brother is far away and I will need surgery tomorrow. Thank You God for the family that steps in to help my mother. Bless us with good health, care and assistance. Bless the care givers for my mother. Thank you for Edward and my sons giving advice. Help us live each day to please you and end well. Thank You we Trust in You.

We lift up our family, loved ones, people we pray for, all our concerns. Our Churches, Communities, Nation and the people all over the world calling upon Jesus. We ask His blessing, care and concern. Thanks be to God for Jesus. Amen.

♔ Lord Jesus Saves!  †