Psalm 91 ~ show him My Salvation

Psalm 91

He who dwells
 in the shelter of the Most High
will abide 
in the shadow of the Almighty.

2 I will say 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.”



Collections. A very witty friend of mine tells me her collections have collections.

And don't our thoughts have collections and then, maybe, pet thoughts. Pets. And don't our pet thoughts have established patterns of thoughts leading down the same path as yesterday?

I have a collection most Christians have. I have a collection of Sermons, Bible Studies and Answered Prayers that are my "Go To Collection." They are my favorite pet thought collection.

I think I'll explain it like this:
Jesus came down from an amazing mountain, where His Disciples met Moses, Elijah and God Himself.  Then Jesus has the opportunity to find His Disciples are not succeeding with the father and the son in distress. The father yells out, "I have FAITH. I do I really do. God Help me to have More Faith."

My first thought upon waking is to pray for all the family and place them with Jesus. In times of sunshine, this is Joy. In times of worry, I ask Jesus to pray with me to make the Prayer Effective. I ask Jesus to borrow His Faith.

In this Prayer. We are placed where the Light of our Soul has Jesus replenishing us. At the top of Living Water soaking and seeping wherever Jesus would have this Blessing go. Blessing those around us and filling us.

This is wonderful. And if someone has trouble, then I worry.

And I remember a Sermon about a man at work who had quit praying because everything was always the same. The same Blessing. The same wife, job, children and drive to and from work. Until the day a man at the office had his child die in a car wreck. And this Sermon is about the shame of getting on the office floor (door closed) to mourn privately and the shame to Pray Again Suddenly and the shame to beg a Busy God to spare his own children. And ending the prayer pretty quickly to not get caught with more shame. Brush off the real tears and cry a little more and get back to work - fast.

The man was so caught up - he drove past his children's school to pray for the safety of all the children while taking a new detour to do this on the way home. Arriving a little later to hug his oldest child. The child calmly told him carpool had been in a very bad wreck on the way home but they all ended up fine. And realizing his prayer was for all the children at school enfolding all the children in the car on the way home. Realizing with a life-changing day - God is listening and answering Prayer.

I know a minister quite well who has a similar prayer story.



This Minister prayed over every semester of college for the son to have safe classes, good classes, a good heart, mind and soul. To meet godly people, to be safe, to have his walk with Jesus safe. For the joy of the classes, the students and the Professors. To establish His Path with Father God Almighty. And about the third year of college this former student youth minister son announced to the Minister, he was done with the Easter Bunny and Jesus.

The minister continued to fast and pray over every new semester day. Feeling downhearted. Bummed out. Unheard in all of the people praying - all over the world. A salmon prayer swimming up the salmon stream. Knowing some people prayed for sunshine for one day and others prayed for rain, same day. Feeling not excited about the obligation and duty of prayer when it was one drop of water in the ocean of prayer.

And so far, not apparently answered prayer. Having the prayer feel, "way past the good date." Expired. And then feeling ashamed of not being hopeful to pray. And prayed and fasted on with humbug. And humbug apology.

The son graduated from college. With allll the attitudes. Came home to visit and about three years down the line - said as the milk was being placed in the wonderful refrigerator for the prompt good, fresh, good milk date. "You know why I didn't sell drugs?"

"Probably because you have a soul and don't wish to be the author of ruined lives and children accidentally ingesting said drugs and dying and knowing all your life you sold drugs. Your parents would kill you. You aren't stupid. You grandmother would know. You'd have your picture in the paper. No jobs. And we told you all your life you were smart and made good decisions and were highly intelligent as well as Jesus follower."

The son replied as the light of the Refrigerator was still showing, "Yep that."

And the son continued, "But in the dorm, people sold pharmaceutical drugs and made a fortune. And I decided I would too."

The minister said only, "No."

The minister's son continued to be upbeat. "The problem with trying to sell pharmaceutical drugs is you have to really find a supplier. And I found a co-worker who told me she would give me Hydrocodone tablets from her broken ankle. She had a ton of them and she was allergic to them. I was meeting her at work about noon for the tablets that can be sold for $120 each."

The minister simply couldn't speak and was puzzled at the upbeat tone.

"So she was late and it got to be five in the afternoon.Finally, she came into work and with her were two uniformed police people. I ran to the break room. Immediately I began to cry, realizing you and my family and grandmother would find I'd sold DRUGS. Every good thing would be wiped out. I'd never be a person who didn't sell drugs again. I'd make the newspaper. Co workers would eventually recognize me. I'd never have a good job. Probably prison. I thought about what a real prison cell looks like. I realized I'd been arrogant to assume I'd never be caught. I wondered how she was caught. I cried really hard about being hauled out in handcuffs in front of all the entire office. I pictured calling home and getting the answering machine. And then I prayed and said, "Please God oh God Oh God. Please."

"In a few minutes, came to the break room and my co-worker smiled at me and handed me a ziplock bag with plenty of pills in them. I didn't want to take them from her because - of course - this was the fingerprint part. I growled at her I didn't want them now. She said ok sure, fine with her. My mouth fell open. She laughed and said the fuzz are my foster parents. We were going for dinner."



"I really couldn't talk. I had faced the worst part of my worst decision. And she left with the pills. And that is why I'm never going to sell drugs." The son continued. "I prayed and if I really thought about it in the "God vein," I'd have to say God let me live my decision and fall in my decision and not take the decision. God took it from me."

Every morning, I start my day praying for the people I love. God will take our faithless prayers. Our humbug Salmon prayers. The prayers we feel hit the ceiling and when we are sorry for being without all the faith we'd like to give Father God, He treats us as our Father.

God is good, because God is good.

Abba, Father God,

You are the Shepherd of our Soul. You Oversee our Lives. Your Path is where we want to be.

You are The Lord of Lords, God of All Creation and where we want to receive our Blessings.


Our Best Prayer - our Highest Prayer - our Earnest Prayer - 
We want to place our Beloved Ones in Your Heart. We want the Comforter and Teacher for them. God of Encouragement. Bless them.

Love is from God.


We pray The Prayer Jesus taught us to pray, always. Knowing You give us this day. You forgive us and Love us.


We would have Your Prayer embrace all of Your Good Creation. We would have the Heavens pour out a Blessing of more Heaven on earth. We would have the Light of all shine upon the Nations to trust more in You. We would bless our Nation with Living Water seeping and refreshing where You would place Your Love.

And in peace, joy and Love to know You answer prayers more than we can ask or imagine. You take and calm and give us joy.

Thanks be to You, Father God and Your Son, Jesus Christ.

 Alleluia. Amen.

♔ Lord Jesus Saves! †  

Matthew 1 ~ was, will and fulfill

Unto Nebraska, Go Racing. Run your race to win.

Matthew 1

The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

2 Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, 3 and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram, 4 and Ram the father of Amminadab, and Amminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon, 5 and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, 6 and Jesse the father of David the king.

And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah, 7 and Solomon the father of Rehoboam, and Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asaph, 8 and Asaph the father of Jehoshaphat, and Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of Uzziah, 9 and Uzziah the father of Jotham, and Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, 10 and Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, and Manasseh the father of Amos, and Amos the father of Josiah, 11 and Josiah the father of Jechoniah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon.

12 And after the deportation to Babylon: Jechoniah was the father of Shealtiel, and Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, 13 and Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, and Abiud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor, 14 and Azor the father of Zadok, and Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliud, 15 and Eliud the father of Eleazar, and Eleazar the father of Matthan, and Matthan the father of Jacob, 16 and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ.

17 So all the generations from Abraham to David were fourteen generations, and from David to the deportation to Babylon fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ fourteen generations.

18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. 19 And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. 20 But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:

23 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and they shall call his name Immanuel”

(which means, God with us). 24 When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, 25 but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.

Different mornings - different speeds.

We have a constant.
 Just as Matthew 1 begins to renew Genesis 1, God's Plan is working.

We have a constant.
Every day we have a long line of family, God's Plan and the will to go forth into God's Plan.

We have a constant.
Each day the sun rises, we have gravity and responsibilities. Sometimes forgetting the Promise of God's Plan.


One of the most fascinating Studies I ever went to in God's Plan was Dr. Judith and Rev. Francis MacNutts series on Believing God Can Do All Things.

 Our family friend was healed by Jesus Christ going to every seminar the couple gave on healing. In our class, we were the only ones praying for a man with 2nd time horribly aggressive mouth cancer. Jesus healed him. We prayed for a priest dying at age 89 of heart failure unable to get out of bed. His congregation was praying for him, but this motivated class prayed for him and at age 90 he was flying to see his children, going to the grocery store and walking 2 miles - I'm going to say this motivated class added to the Jesus prayers. A man with gangrene for the 2nd time was healed before his next day doctor visit.

One of the unique things about the class, we knew each other and it was not for time to discuss the family, the future and instead was for finding the Joy of God and God's Plan.

For all of us, to keep the God Plan rolling - we have to acknowledge Jesus Christ as the Wonder of God. Live, active, working today.

And with all of life, God does say this prayer is not in His Plan right now. When we prayed for Edward, one of the men so enthusiastic said glumly, "All we can do is pray here and support you here."

Why is that a bad thing? The work of mankind is to Believe God.

Edward and I were talking to a Minister, we have known for more years than seem possible. He said I'm not sure I did enough. I'm not sure I changed lives. I'm not sure I see The Acts of the Apostles happening. Yet he doesn't see quitting. He sees funerals and quiet lives go peacefully into the Light. Not into the good --- night.

St. Augustine was asked what will we do with knowing Jesus? I knew a man who had been a leader of his Church and he said when I look at my life - I care for elderly parents, a family member who is ill. I attend Church. I believe. I go to meetings. I do good works, but I don't make a huge stir and can't help others change their lives. It's all pretty small really.

I've seen people who are movers and shakers in the Christian Church wonder about aging. And Effectiveness. And have good memories of magnificent miracles. And mull sometimes how they did this day-to-day. I've seen very responsible people fear God will think their life's work was a donut... hole. I've seen effective people go up and down in the scale of effectiveness and wonder about burn out.

My son Alexander and I were discussing why life can be disappointing with people you'd think were amazing. I settled down for a long discussion. Alexander made the traditional shrug gesture with both hands over his breakfast and said, "People try this and then they try that. They wonder about immediate results. Wait for interim results. And become just discouraged and try good ideas, bad ideas and then make mistakes. It's about human wonder." I said to my son. "That is the Einstein answer Jesus would give. I'm so impressed." Alexander was pleased and I was thrilled.

Don't you love when Paul tells us from the Holy Spirit and St. Augustine agrees?

Changed lives. Matthew 1 is a Chapter on changed lives. Like St. Augustine - walking in the footsteps of generations. Regular life. And then Jesus enters and we wait with all of Creation to find the Sons of God revealed.

St. Augustine began eternal life with ... a changed life. And Augustine  looked at all of us wanting to pull The Acts of the Apostles into every day and every morning, every car drive, every lunch, dinner and evening upon all those we love and care for.



St. Augustine said a quote we can all hold on to.....

1 Corinthians 9:24
Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.

The Bible is Living and Active. Literally true. In Theory true. In Practice True. In Allegory true. In analogy True. True in our past. True in our today. True in our tomorrow. True in Archaeology. True for people we love unborn. True for the generations of our family to be met as lives after our own in Heaven. In the application we understand to fit in the verse we know is fitting. In the practice of this small part is for tomorrow. And we discover this is true.

So St. Augustine thought about the 'real' race. Getting back in the saddle. Endurance. The steadfast race. The literal race we were God given strength to accomplish. Not just discussing our thoughts on the lofty Bible in safe environmental units.

The race where people vomit. Where people smell. People cry. People have heart attacks and avoid talking to each other and talk to themselves. A real race. A race where the sun rises and we see the light hit the trees knowing others are resting. A race where the gentle breeze is a sudden Gift of God. A race where a kind word is a gift of Salvation and water is Living. A race when encouragement sets the wind at your back and your soul has light. A race where repeat words drone in your ears and you wonder why you have to listen. A race where the finish line is a lot further than you thought. A race that is in Hawaii and no one told you is up the side of the mountain only for hours. A race where you know you can't finish and suddenly there is a real and earnest sign Victory has Arrived!!!

A race where you had no idea you were bringing Matthew 1 and God wants them to arrive with you. Wot. Veelar Children Bicycle Trailer Jogging Stroller Combo 2 in 1 Red/Blue seating for 24. 

Best of luck!!! NOW, THIS IS THE RACE.

So we've almost all of us seen God works Wonders and Miracles. He Does.

St. Augustine lived a life of experiences.

St. Augustine said. This. When we really and truly take care of the People God has given us. For our lives. For this time. For our lives. For today. For our lives. When we pour God's love in our hearts with great earnest gulps and do what we can for others to know the Incredible Father GOD. The real Father Love of "Don't Quit Now, God is Absolutely for you. Always. He even remembers in 3rd Grade when you pulled for Rossi and stood up in front of all of them>"

When we help those we Love to understand the Magnitude of God wants to save the world and He remembers you and Loves you, "when you connected in Confirmation Class in 5th grade to please your grandmother and you cried because you met real Jesus." The part you repeated as you died that day and we were told you were seen beside the Shining waters of Heaven." And we knew to rejoice because Father God really got you and held you rested and safe. Because all of His Promises are true.

And in this life of reading Leviticus and hearing words that repeat, we find Joy and God of Love and God of Encouragement is the exact nature of Jesus Christ. Putting out His arms open wide and saying with Paul and Augustine:





Since you cannot do good to all, you are to pay special attention to those who, by the accidents of time, or place, or circumstances, are brought into closer connection with you.
~ Saint Augustine 

We feed ourselves to Worship Father God and place ourselves in His Worship.

When we deliberately place ourselves in starvation we find this:

Freedom as an opportunity bite and devour one another, consumed with humans and human conditions. Freedom used for sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies of HBO, and things like these. Conceited, provoking and envying each other.

 

And when we are soaking ourselves in Strength we find this ~ in ourselves and in those helping us:

The Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Not against the Law nor looking at it. Wanting to be in step with the Spirit of Jesus Christ.

And truthfully, in looking at how small our capabilities are, we must believe St. Augustine saying God's Salvation and the encouragement He renews in us, daily, in His mercies, is of God Himself. God gives us this: Himself, Works of God, His Word, His Wonder, His Fellowship to keep us in the saddle. The Journey Home. Where God our Father will run to us coming Home.

Abba, Father,

We Bless You for what You have given us to encourage us. People dearly held to You. The Renewal of Your Holy Spirit each day. The help near and far. Prayer. Your Helper.

We thank You for Your Blessings of Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow.

Praying for more Heaven on earth. Covering the Nations by the people of faith knowing the Power of Scripture to ask as Jesus said for more Heaven on earth. Enfolding this Nation to keep the Light of mankind as our focus of trust.

Empowering those we Love to find Your Holy Spirit renewing us daily. Strengthening us in our cares to be held up by You, our Father God. Filling us with Your Love.

Alleluia in Jesus Christ. Alleluia. Amen.

♔ Lord Jesus Saves! †